Universal Custom Scraper Feed

Member Highlight – Bren Whittaker

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:08:20 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson

We are so honored by our Lifetime Members! Bren Whittaker of Brunswick, Vermont is a founding member of the Guild as well. Though he doesn’t walk the woods much these days, so many acres have benefited from his care. Some of his footprints are seen in the form of the Vermont Outstanding Tree Farm Award that he and his wife Dorothy and family earned in 2023 (and that wasn’t the only award)! Bren treasures being part of the Guild community. He and his family have been strong supporters since the beginning. It’s truly part of their identity and Bren is part of ours – having helped shape the Guild all these years. The connection is strongly acknowledged in Bren’s note to the Guild, which summarizes Dorothy Whittaker’s obituary from last winter.

Dorothy Alden Whittaker of Brunswick VT passed away on December 10, 2025. She was the spouse and longtime partner of Guild Founding & Lifetime Member, Brendan J.Whittaker. They met in 1952 as lab partners in a soils course when Bren was in UMass Forestry School and Dorothy was majoring in Agriculture. They would have been married for 70 years in May 2026. Dorothy had many years as as a school teacher, loved by her students, and subsequently had a successful commercial vegetable farm business. She was proud to have their sixty-eight acre farm and forest land named as the 1983 “Vermont Tree Farm of theYear”by the American Tree Farm System. She and Brendan had three children, one of whom is also a professional forester.”

Bren’s Lifetime Membership is an honor for the Guild, and we thank Bren and the gifts of another supporting member for making it possible. Thank you to the Whittaker family for your legacy. Thanks for all you do for forests, and for walking with the Guild community all along the way.

Numinosity.- Book Review

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:01:47 GMT

Written by Shannon Maes

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Numinosity. The poems and prose are held tenderly together by the imperative to be deeply feeling, aware and faithful stewards of nature. Conservation is both an ethic to live by and for many of us also a set of practices baked into our work and daily life. It’s important to know such a constant companion in multiple ways and from different perspectives so we can chart our own course through sometimes rocky, challenging and unknown territory with resilience and conviction. Reading Robert Perschel’s writing will help us remember why we choose this path.

The Guild’s Forest Stewards Apprentices make a difference in the Maine Woods

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:53:28 GMT

In September 2025, the Guild launched a three-person Forest Stewards Apprenticeship (FSA) crew to work with the Penobscot Nation’s Department of Natural Resources (PN DNR). Over the course of their six-month season, apprentices Agenor Duhon, Gabe Stewart, and Jacob Baker shared a season of learning, collaboration, and hands-on stewardship of Penobscot Tribal lands.

Jacob, a UMaine Forestry graduate, was able to promptly apply his knowledge and enjoyed taking on a teaching role within the team. He smiled while recalling a moment when crewmate Gabe quickly recognized an aspen, “I said, ‘Yes—great job!’… He didn’t even have to think about it… all those a-ha moments… really made me feel great about [the FSA Program].” Penobscot Nation was so impressed by his performance that they offered him a position with the Nation, starting as a forester this month.

Written by Michelle Giles and Rachel Swanwick

Similarly, FSA–PN crew member and Tribal member Gabe Stewart, was rehired by the Guild to lead the 2026 Forest Stewards Youth Corps with Penobscot Nation. His leadership embodies the program’s long-term goal: To strengthen Tribal workforce pathways- by providing training, education, and employment in forestry and fire management for Indigenous youth and young adults.

In August 2026, the PN-FSA program will begin a new cycle, offering immersive training in forestry and fire management to a new cohort of land stewards. FSA crew members will continue contributing directly to on-the-ground management, supporting timber harvest planning and execution, pre-commercial thinning, ash monitoring, seed collection, applied research of hardwood competition, and forest road upkeep.

The FSA experience is designed to prepare our early career apprentices for their future career paths. For Agenor, the experience was both practical and empowering. “I gained a lot of valuable experience,” he said, “and added a whole new couple paragraphs to my resume.”

At the end of their first month, the crew will participate in a Tribal‑led ash seed collection training on Penobscot Nation’s lands. Hosted by the Guild’s Sustaining Ash Partners Network and the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Waponahkik, the training will

Building Skills in Fire and Forest Stewardship

From day one, the apprentices immersed themselves in a comprehensive month of training and mentorship focused on forest, fire, and cultural resource management. They obtained their Wildland Firefighting certifications and received “Red Cards,” enabling them to participate in a two-week Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX). This experience proved transformative and was a standout moment for each participant.

“I was completely new to fire. It was like entering a brand new world,” reflected Agenor. “So…it was really cool to immerse ourselves in it for the two weeks of TREX.”

After the exchange, the apprentices completed the Certified Logging Professionals program , learning safe and responsible forest resource management. They also earned First Aid, CPR, and First Aid for Severe Trauma certifications—essential skills for working in remote, forested areas.

Building on this foundation, the apprentices entered a new phase of hands-on learning under Forest Manager Ben Stevens at PN DNR. During routine field days on Penobscot lands, they explored forest resiliency, silviculture, and applications of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

“I really enjoyed seeing forestry from a Tribal perspective.” Jacob noted “It’s completely different than how I’ve ever looked at it. Being able to look at it from your point of view is an eye-opener.”

On-the-Ground Results

As Autumn progressed in the Maine woods, our apprentices began making measurable contributions to Penobscot Nation’s stewardship efforts. From October through the end of February the FSA Crew supported 17 forest projects, including:

Thinning across 13.75 acres
Flagging 3 miles of timber harvest boundaries
Clearing 4.2 miles of roads and trails
Surveying 1,000 acres of timber
Felling more than 117 trees for restoration and commercial use

These accomplishments advanced PN’s stewardship goals, increased workforce capacity, and improved forest resiliency across the Northern Forest region.

Continuing the Cycle of Mentorship

Looking Ahead to FSA 2026: Youth, Community, and Intertribal Exchange

Highlight the cultural importance of ash preservation
Build a shared practice for ash seed collection
Support long‑term protection of ash for future generations

The FSA crew will also partner with the Wabanaki Youth in Science (WaYS) Ancestral Lands Trail Crew on joint training and stewardship projects. These collaborations create more holistic Tribal workforce development opportunities and connect youth directly with land‑based work.

Looking ahead to fall, the FSA crew plans to travel to New Mexico to participate in a cooperative prescribed burn with the New Mexico Tribal Fire and Forestry Working Group and the Pueblo of Jemez—strengthening inter-Tribal collaboration in fire and forest stewardship.

Growing a Network of Partners

Since launching the FSA–PN program in 2025, the Guild and Penobscot Nation have continued to build a partnership that enriches participant experiences, boosts PN’s workforce capacity, and supports forest resiliency throughout the Northern Forest. The success of the 2025 crew’s training and certifications was achieved through collaboration with:

In 2026, the FSA–PN crew is expanding on this foundation by working with:

University of Maine’s Ash Protection Collaboration Across Waponahkik
The Guild’s Sustaining Ash Partners Network
Wabanaki Youth in Science (WaYS)
New Mexico Tribal Fire and Forestry Working Group
Pueblo of Jemez

We want to thank Penobscot Nation and our expanding network of partners for their contributions to the program’s success and for helping shape the lives of Agenor, Gabe, and Jacob, our inaugural PN-FSA crew participants. This program is made possible through funding from the Northeastern States Research Cooperative’s Indigenous Forest Knowledge Fund.

FSA Reflections: Southwest Virginia – Number 11

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:38:32 GMT

This week, I stepped into the role of crew leader. We worked a full 40-hour week, splitting our time between Clifton Farms and a prescribed burn operation. On the first day in the field, we completed hack-and-squirt treatments on trees that had been marked the previous week. For the remainder of the week, we focused on marking trees for future hack-and-squirt work, maintaining a steady pace and ensuring accuracy in our selections.

Written by Ryan Salyers

On the final day of the work week, we traveled to Natural Tunnel State Park to assist with a prescribed burn in coordination with the Department of Conservation and Recreation. This was a valuable and rewarding experience, as we were able to actively participate in a burn that covered approximately 30 acres of the park. During the operation, we also had the opportunity to work alongside the Department of Forestry, gaining additional insight and experience in prescribed fire practices.

Overall, it was a productive week that allowed me to develop leadership skills while contributing to both vegetation management and fire operations.

How Digital Intelligence is Catching Up to Field Stewardship

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:30:46 GMT

As Guild members, our practice is fundamentally grounded in field observation. We know intuitively that forests are dynamic, living communities. Yet, for decades, the high-level systems used to value our work, specifically the carbon accounting ledgers tied to international frameworks like the Paris Agreement, have treated forests as static, quantifiable blocks of land. In a recent commentary published in One Earth, I argue that these legacy measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) frameworks are failing. Ledger accounting relies on crude land-use delineations and outdated technology, effectively penalizing the natural, seasonal flux of the ecosystems we manage every day. By forcing landscapes into rigid “forest” versus “non-forest” binaries, such legacy systems miss the complex reality on the ground. But a major shift is underway.

At its core, dMRV is the application of digital intelligence to natural ecosystems. It harnesses continuous data flows from satellites, ground sensors, and field plots, combining them with AI to construct a dynamic, real-time “digital twin” of our tree populations. By tracking individual trees, we can bypass confounding public policy and crude land-use classes. It means a tree’s ecological value is recognized whether it is standing in a dense uneven-aged forest, an agroforestry system, or an urban canopy.

Written by Chris Woodall of CTrees

I recognize that terms like “AI” and “digital intelligence” can sound disconnected from the dirt, paint, and humility of field forestry. There is a valid fear that AI could relegate our work into opaque algorithms driven by pure capitalism, with uncertain implications for vital ecosystem processes we steward. But we have a window to shape this architecture. In addition to realizing machine-driven efficiency, we can tether transparent AI systems to local community values and a more dynamic accounting of natural capital.

What each forester and landowner knows about their specific parcel can now feed into a broader web of forest insights, similar to the way encyclopedias and almanacs transformed knowledge in the past. In this vision, foresters use AI to amplify our hard-earned ecological knowledge, not replace it. While my thesis focuses heavily on voluntary carbon markets and the post-Paris Accord landscape, the universe this technology opens up is vastly more expansive. By observing individual trees, we can better guide climate-adaptive management, monitor biodiversity, and connect rural stewards to new, transparent markets. The accelerating technological changes of 2026 suggest this reality will arrive faster than we expect. As forest stewards, we are committed to the long haul. By embracing this new digital architecture, we ensure that the deep, localized knowledge we gather in the woods translates directly into healthier local ecosystems and a stable global climate. The ledger is dead; living stewardship starting with the individual tree is the future.

Technology has finally matured enough to see the landscape as a forester does: tree by tree. In basic terms, “digital intelligence” just means giving our computers the ability to instantly translate massive piles of raw data, like a satellite picture or a drone scan, into a working, real-time map of the forests, helping us make decisions on the ground. In the past, remotely sensed observations could crudely define somebody’s concept of a “forest” separate from a “woodland” all the while ignoring field-level observations and local knowledge. The future is dynamic identification of individual trees deeply connected to field observations and communities. This is the promise of tree-centric digital MRV (dMRV).

To access the OneEarth Commentary (published on March 2026) visit here.

ForestHer NC: Making Forestry Stronger, Together - Forest Stewards Guild

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:37:39 GMT

Women have always been a part of forestry. Historically, women often helped guide family decisions about when to cut, which trees to save, and how best to steward their land for the next generation. Historical accounts from the Southern Appalachians describe women’s roles in decisions about timber harvesting and prioritizing long-term forest health. These often-uncredited contributions are even reflected in Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac (1949), in which describes his stewardship philosophy informed not only by his professional experience, but by shared responsibility, where the perspectives of his wife and daughters played an important role.

One of the earliest women conservationists to receive widespread recognition was Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring published in (1962), profoundly influenced how we think about long-term ecological impacts and land stewardship. While many of these contributions were informal or went unrecognized at the time, they nonetheless influenced how forests were managed and valued. That influence didn’t disappear; it just wasn’t always visible.

Today, many women continue to bring these same stewardship values to their land and work but maywithout not always havinge access to the same networks or learning opportunities that have historically shaped how forestry knowledge is shared and applied. Many women describe learning forestry by figuring things out as they go, often without a clear place to ask questions. Recognizing the importance of accessible education, peer connection, and supportive learning spaces can help shape efforts to better engage women in forestry in ways that build on, rather than replace, existing practices. And that belief is what led to the creation of ForestHer NC.

ForestHer NC (FHNC) was founded in January 2019 by a group of natural resources professionals and private forest landowners who recognized a common challenge: many women landowners needed better access to information, support networks, and welcoming educational spaces to manage their forests confidently.

Our mission centers on equipping participants with knowledge, skills, and community connections so they can confidently manage forestland and make informed decisions about their land. Programming spans all major regions of the state,— from the Coastal Plains to the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains, —and is designed to be inclusive and accessible, intentionally centering the experiences of women who have historically been underrepresented in forestry and natural resources fields.

That mission comes to life through a range of educational opportunities. Since its inception, FHNC has grown into a network that offers educational workshops, field days, webinars, and community events that span a wide range of forest-related topics. These events often bring together experts in forestry, wildlife management, prescribed burning, bird and wildlife identification, and other forestry topics to provide hands-on learning opportunities and practical skills. Many women note that traditional field

Meeting a Need

Written by Mackenzie Alexander and Kelly Oten

days can be intimidating or unfamiliar. Providing targeted workshops in a supportive peer environment helps address these barriers and encourages greater participation in forest management activities.

Women’s Work in History

Founding ForestHer NC

ForestHer Mission

A core purpose of FHNC’s programming is to respond to real needs identified by women landowners and professionals. As ForestHer NC grew, we wanted to better understand whether our programming was truly meeting these needs. In 2023, we partnered with Duke University Master of Forestry student Emma Childs to evaluate participant experiences. A total of 126 participants representing a range of ownership statuses and regions across North Carolina contributed to the evaluation.

Results from the evaluation showed strong interest in wildlife habitat management, invasive species management, prescribed fire, and continued learning, all of which are areas that align with FHNC’s experiential programming. Past events have included workshops on forest management, wildlife habitat management, the cultural significance of longleaf pine ecosystems, prescribed burn demonstrations, and interdisciplinary field gatherings that combine ecological education with opportunities for networking and shared experience.

Learning in Community

Across these events, we consistently see the same thing: learning feels more accessible (and more enjoyable!) when it happens side by side with others navigating similar questions. Because we develop our programs in collaboration with conservation agencies and organizations, we can balance technical depth with community building. The focus is on learning by doing, paired with time to connect with others facing similar challenges. That approach has been well received. Participants frequently share that these events are the first time they have felt comfortable asking questions, handling equipment, or discussing management decisions without judgment.

These themes were apparent in Childs’ participant experiences. Prescribed fire emerged as a practice that participants viewed as both ecologically valuable and logistically intimidating. Women landowners, especially those managing smaller or urban-adjacent tracts, described significant uncertainty around how to begin, who to contact, and whether their land would be prioritized by agencies with limited capacity. These insights help clarify why hands-on burn demonstrations (Learn and Burns) and community-anchored opportunities like Prescribed Burn Associations have become an important part of FHNC programming.

FHNC maintains a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The organization actively works to create programming and community spaces that are welcoming to women and attentive to the ways race, socioeconomic status, land tenure history, and ability impact access to forestry education. This emphasis supports equitable access to education and stewardship opportunities across diverse landowner and professional communities.

In 2025, FHNC hosted six different events across North Carolina, made possible through partnerships and sponsorship form organizations like: The Nature Conservancy, North Carolina Forest Service, North Carolina Tree Farm Program, North Carolina State University– – Extension Forestry, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Black Family Land Trust, Forest Stewards Guild, and other local partners across the state. These collaborations, along with strong relationships with engaged landowners, is what makes it possible to offer programming across North Carolina’s diverse landscapes, from the Coastal Plains to the mountains, while connecting participants to resources and people they can turn to long after an event ends.

Planning for the Future

Looking ahead to 2026, FHNC will continue to evaluate success not only by the number of events, but also by its ability to operate sustainably, transition leadership smoothly, and reduce reliance on external support. With strengthened governance, clear operational procedures, and robust programming, FHNC is well-positioned to continue growing its impact, building capacity among participants, and fostering a more inclusive and skilled forestry workforce across the state.

Women are playing an increasingly visible role in shaping the future of forestry as landowners, practitioners, researchers, and leaders. As forests face novels challenges, from invasive species to land-use changes, it matters more than ever that people feel equipped and supported in caring for them. Creating spaces where women can learn together and build confidence isn’t about changing forestry; it’s about making it stronger.

Mackenzie Alexander is the 2026 Chair of ForestHer NC and Southeast coordinator of the Forest Stewards Guild. Kelly Oten is the 2025 Chair of ForestHer NC and assistant professor and extension specialist of forest health at North Carolina State University. ForestHer NC is building confidence, connection, and stewardship among women landowners and forestry professionals across North Carolina. To learn more, visit https://www.foresthernc.org/.

Growing the Forest Workforce: Building Local Capacity in Appalachia - Forest Stewards Guild

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:09:32 GMT

Although rural regions often host the highest concentrations of public and private forest land, they typically lack the sustainable workforce necessary for active management and stewardship. How do we address this foundational problem in forest conservation?

The Guild has partnered with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in the heart of Central Appalachia in Southwest Virginia to co-pilot the new Forest Stewards Apprenticeship (FSA) Program in response to this challenge. FSA in Southwest Virginia (FSA-SWVA) creates full-time, apprenticeships for local residents to gain in-depth, hands-on forest conservation experience and professional training. The program started in 2025 runs for one year from June to May. In 2025, the Guild also launched an FSA crew in Maine with the Penobscot Nation with additional crews planned in the coming years. 

FSA-SWVA apprentices complete a wide range of forest health and improvement projects. These include invasive species management in the newly formed Clinch River State Park and rare ecosystem restoration at Cleveland Barrens Natural Area Preserve with Virginia’s Department of Conservation & Recreation(VA-DCR), as well as urban park development with Clinch River Soil & Conservation District, and forest improvement for enhanced timber quality and wildlife habitat with The Nature Conservancy. In addition, apprentices spend the year engaged in trainings provided by the Guild, TNC, and VA-DCR while also earning industry-standard professional certifications in Wilderness First Aid, Chainsaw Operation, Wildland Firefighter Type II, Pesticide Application, Sustainable Harvesting and Professional Logging, and drone operation. Participants also receive in-depth Appalachian tree identification and GIS training, essential skills for professionals working in forests.

There is an endless amount of conservation and active management work to be done, and very little capacity to do it. TNC forest manager Tal Jacobs notes that “Closing this gap is critical for maintaining resilient and productive forests on our landscape. The Forest Stewards Apprenticeship has provided an immediate boost of activity, but more importantly an investment for building out the robust local workforce that forest managers rely on.” The FSA-SWVA program helps complete critical on-the-ground work while simultaneously developing a local workforce for the future. As one Southwest Virginia apprentice shared,  “Moving forward, I’m more motivated than ever to pursue a career in environmental restoration and preservation. I want to keep learning about ecological balance, and the role humans can play in either damaging or restoring it.” 

Additionally, despite growing demand for forest conservation professionals, it can be difficult for local residents to break into the field when there are limited opportunities to access industry training or to gain the experience required for many jobs. Many conservation and forest management projects require workers who are trained to make complex, high-stakes decisions within the highly biodiverse Appalachian forest ecosystems, decisions that will shape the long-term health and productivity of these forests. Developing this level of judgment takes significant time and guided, hands-on practice to develop. As apprentice Walker Trent explains,  “I’ve really enjoyed working on crop tree release projects with the crew. This is where we select trees that we want to promote growth, and others we want to cull. We’ve all been working on our winter tree identification skills, which takes a lot of practice.” 

The FSA-SWVA program is designed to benefit the Southwest Virginia area far beyond a single program year. It prepares a new generation of local forestry professionals to become ecologically responsible stewards of their region while strengthening the regional land stewardship economy as eco-tourism demand continues to grow. Apprentice Ryan Salyers shares,

Note from the editor : Watch for a video release this spring that tells part of the story of the pilot year of FSA-SWVA on the Guild’s YouTube channel!

Written by Chris Defiore

“One big change I’ve noticed in St. Paul, VA over my lifetime is how the town has shifted from being mostly a coal community to focusing more on tourism and outdoor recreation. When I was younger, a lot of families around here still depended on mining, but now you see people coming in to visit places like the Clinch River… it’s helped bring more life and jobs to the area, especially for younger folks who don’t want to move away to find work. The environment has also benefited from the cleanup of the river and the push for eco-tourism has made the area a lot prettier and healthier… Working with the Guild ties into that because we’re all about keeping that growth sustainable and making sure locals have a part in it. I think it’s made people around here more proud of where they’re from.” 

Practicing & Promoting Stewardship - Forest Stewards Guild

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:57:45 GMT

The Forest Stewards Guild has a unique dual mandate: practice and promote forest stewardship. Personally, I think the combination of practicing forest management and promoting best practices is what makes the Guild a vibrant and impactful organization.

The Guild was founded by foresters who worked in the woods. For three decades, Guild members, staff, and board have worked hard to ensure that on-the-ground stewardship stays at the heart of the organization. Part of the drive to center work in the woods comes from our shared desire to be outside in nature’s beauty. The joy of being in the forest is inspiring and motivating.

Another reason to keep real-world stewardship at the center of the Guild is that logistics and day-to-day practicalities help determine what practices are possible. Guild members know that many management plans crumbled to inutility when confronted with stream crossings, price fluctuations, unavailable contractors, deer browse, or a myriad of other everyday complexities. Good ideas need to work in the woods to be effective.

This logic extends to Guild staff. Why does the Guild staff conduct prescribed burns, remove invasive plants, plan harvests, restore forest structure, and engage in other on-the-ground projects? Because it keeps the organization emersed in the realities of stewardship. Guild efforts to promote techniques and tactics are based on visceral knowledge.

Sharing stewardship insights and learning from each other is the second half of the Guild’s mission to practice and promote. Guild members and staff relish sharing successful strategies with their colleagues. Ideas and approaches can be transferred and adapted, but always need to be grounded in place, local culture, and landscape to be successful.

Members are eager to offer and use innovations whether they come from a research project, continuous forest inventory, or years of observation. This e-newsletter highlights new ideas and practices from the Guild community every month. The Guild’s Forest Steward magazine promotes the amazing work of our community and dozens of events and webinars each year bring Guild members together to share their work, ideas, questions, challenges, and success. Unfortunately, rapid ecological change makes continuous learning a necessity rather than a luxury.

Synergy, the idea that a combination is greater than the separate elements, is an overused term, but in the case of practicing and promoting stewardship, the two are more powerful when interwoven. We find out what management techniques the Guild should promote by testing them in the woods. Members’ experience often adds nuance or cautions to best management practices, which, in turn, helps other stewards implement those practices effectively. Scientists can draw on the experience or work of practitioners to guide fruitful experiments. In other cases, Guild members and staff implement new research, so early adopters can walk through a demonstration stand instead of just reading about what it might look like.

Other institutions have shown the power of combining practice and promotion. For example, nurses and doctors need both hands-on experience and the latest science to keep us healthy. Health care that neglected either practical experience or promotion of best practices would be a failure. I argue that forest stewardship is the same. I am proud to be part of the Guild community because we are anchored on the land with a long-term view and at the same time are learning from each other, innovating, and promoting what works best to forge a healthy future for people and forests. Our unique dual mandate would not be possible without the Guild community spread across the country, so thank you for being part of this positive change.

Written by Zander Evans

A Champion of Black Ash and the Forest Community: Celebrating the Career and Legacy of Les Benedict  - Forest Stewards Guild

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 08:02:52 GMT

We celebrate the remarkable career and legacy of Leslie (Les) Benedict, who has provided visionary leadership and dedicated service to the stewardship of forests, championing the preservation of the ecological and culturally important black ash. Benedict, a member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in Akwesasne, north of the Adirondacks in upstate New York, recently retired after serving as the Assistant Director of the Tribe’s Environment Division for over 35 years.

His work with black ash began in 1991 through the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, in response to community concerns about the health and future of black ash. This work was pivotal in building an understanding of the silvics of this species, whose survival, just years later, was proven functionally threatened by the emerald ash borer, an introduced forest pest. Black ash is an important cultural material, most notably used for crafting baskets as an art form and for use in ceremonies, trade, traps, and storage1. As Benedict shared, basket making “is a cultural practice that is part of our cultural identity” that has been passed down through Indigenous communities for thousands of years. 

Benedict co-authored the “Handbook for Black Ash Preservation, Reforestation, and Regeneration” in 2000 with Richard David, a foundational work on black ash taxonomy, seed collection, propagation, and out-planting. This handbook was truly visionary in developing and sharing the knowledge necessary to sustain black ash for future generations. It has become a central resource in guiding contemporary seed collection and reforestation strategies for preserving black ash across Tribal Nations and resource management agencies. 

Benedict also understood that to catalyze meaningful action in the realm of ash preservation, his teachings could not be confined to written literature. Working alongside David, he brought these teachings directly to Tribal Nation communities across the range of black ash. Together, they shared their knowledge in black ash seed collection and propagation protocols through hands-on, experiential learning. This approach not only equipped Tribal Nations with the skills to carry out this work independently, but also fostered a strong, enduring community of practice dedicated to protecting black ash. One story from Bendict and David’s travels recounts,

Alongside their adventures, the ash preservation community has continued to grow, strengthened by a rising sense of urgency to protect black ash as emerald ash borer advances across its range. This early work in building a strong, connected foundation has directly inspired the development of a Tribal-led research agenda through the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Waponahkik (APCAW) at the University of Maine in Orono. Led by Benedict’s close friend and colleague, Dr. John Daigle (Penobscot Nation), this lab group has worked closely with Benedict to carry his work forward and support new generations of dedicated researchers and forest caretakers who continue the hands-on, experiential approach to ash preservation that Benedict and David first brought to this community. PhD Candidate and APCAW lab member Tyler Everett shares,

As a young indigenous scholar getting into the field of forestry and working in the arena of black ash preservation. I quickly became familiar with Les and the great work that he’s done. It made meeting him in person kind of daunting. But, with every interaction I’ve had with Les I’ve felt so invited in this space. He has a way of listening that strips away any imposter syndrome symptoms someone might have, and makes their contributions, however small, feel impactful and meaningful.” 

Written by Rachel Swanwick, Amanda Farris, Tyler Everett, Dr. Tony D’Amato

“While out moving from one Tribal Nation or First Nation community to another sharing seed collection knowledge, they made the most of their time by collecting seed all along the way. This had them staying in hotels and motels across the range of black ash. One night they made it into their room late after a strenuous day of seed collection in black ash wetlands. They threw their seed down in the room and quickly fell asleep. In the morning it was not just the two of them in the room, they had been joined by hundreds of insects that emerged from the collected seed and clung to the ceiling of their motel room!”

Through the years, Benedict has tirelessly given his time, energy, and wisdom to support black ash conservation through partnership with students, Tribal Nations, government agencies, universities, and non-profit organizations across the region. In 2022, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the USDA Forest Service Eastern Region for his longstanding collaborative forest health work. In 2023, he co-authored companion articles in the Journal of Forestry that helped advance multi-stakeholder approaches to ash preservation and identify preservation values to guide stewardship. Benedict is also an active partner in the Guild’s  Sustaining Ash Partners Network , and his contributions have helped foster collaboration to elevate the cultural significance of ash. Dr. Tony D’Amato, one of the many professionals who has benefited from Benedict’s leadership writes,

“Les is an amazing teacher who is always willing to share his wisdom and perspective with anyone who cares about forests and their stewardship. I feel privileged to have been able to learn from Les and look at the forest and my role in its stewardship so differently thanks to his teachings. Our forest community has been so lucky to have such a giving and selfless mentor, teacher, and steward.”

Like tree roots stretching in all directions, the people Benedict influenced have carried his stories forward, and the community sustaining black ash has grown stronger. In his retirement and between hunting and fishing trips, he plans to more deeply study the Mohawk language and continue to collaborate with partners like the Haudensaunee Environmental Task Force and the Abenaki Fist Nations Peoples in Odanak and WÔlinak on ash preservation. Benedict says that black ash brings us all together. By reaching so many people, his lifetime legacy of building community around black ash stands as a beacon of hope for future generations to carry forward a shared passion for preserving ash.

References:

Benedict, L. & David, R. (2000). Handbook for Black Ash Preservation, Reforestation/regeneration. Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, Department of Environment. 
USDA Forest Service. (2022, April 27). Tribal partner recognized for lengthy support of forest health projects. U.S. Department of Agriculture.  https://www.fs.usda.gov/inside-fs/recognition/tribal-partner-recognized-lengthy-support-forest-health-projects  
Anthony W D’Amato, David A Orwig, Nathan W Siegert, Amanda Mahaffey, Les Benedict, Tyler Everett, John Daigle, Logan Johnson, Paul Catanzaro, Caitlin Cusack, Towards Tree Species Preservation: Protecting Ash Amidst the Emerald Ash Borer Invasion in the Northeast, Journal of Forestry, Volume 121, Issue 5-6, September/November 2023, Pages 480–487,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvad025  
Anthony W D’Amato, David A Orwig, Nathan W Siegert, Amanda Mahaffey, Les Benedict, Tyler Everett, John Daigle, Logan Johnson, Paul Catanzaro, Caitlin Cusack, Species Preservation in the Face of Novel Threats: Cultural, Ecological, and Operational Considerations for Preserving Tree Species in the Context of Non-Indigenous Insects and Pathogens, Journal of Forestry, Volume 121, Issue 5-6, September/November 2023, Pages 470–479,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvad024

Removing Trees in Culturally and Environmentally Sensitive Sites – Effigy Mounds

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:30:01 GMT

The Forest Stewards Guild has been working to support the National Park Service on forest stewardship projects throughout the eastern U.S. This month we are in the midst of a project to protect mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument near Harpers Ferry Iowa. This site was designated as a National Monument in 1949 and preserves over 200 mounds built between 800 and 2,500 years ago. Mounds at this site include conical, linear, compound, and effigy mounds – constructed in the shape of animals. Please see the National Park Service page for more information about the mounds, the people who built them, and how to visit the site. The lidar images on that website of the Marching Bears and other mound groups are fascinating.

Many of the mounds are located on bluffs high over the Upper Mississippi River. Prior to land use change and fire suppression, these sites were likely sparsely treed or treeless promontories. Today many of the mounds have large trees growing in and around them. These trees present a threat to the integrity of the mounds as uprooting during a windstorm can destroy entire mounds.

The Guild is supporting the National Monument with a multiphase project to initially remove the trees that pose the highest risk to mound integrity with a long-range vision to create a more open landscape representing historical ecological conditions. In this initial phase we are focusing on the String of Pearls mound group on Fire Point – note the site name for an indication of the point’s history.

Written by Michael Lynch

As part of this project, we are developing a protocol for removing hazard trees in culturally and environmentally sensitive areas. This methodology will be shared with other public lands, particularly those preserving Native American burial mounds but also other sensitive landscapes.

We have partnered with a contractor with a specialized low impact lift and other tracked equipment to ensure these trees are brought down and removed without damaging any of the mounds. Trees continue to be removed as I write this as we take advantage of the frozen ground in early February.

Sun is shining on these mounds in a way it hasn’t in over 100 years.

Please contact Michael Lynch, Great Lakes Region Director with questions about this project.

Ten Years of Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:17:59 GMT

Climate change will impact different forest ecosystems in varying ways, and management strategies to adapt forests to these risks varies across ecosystem conditions, management goals, and desired future conditions specific to the target location. The Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) Network was established in 2009 in response to this need for localized, operational examples of climate adaptation in different ecosystem contexts. The Network is a collaborative effort to establish a series of experimental silvicultural trials across different forest ecosystems, aiming to provide managers with examples of how to integrate climate adaptation into their silvicultural planning and management actions.

Since the project began, the Network has grown to become the largest experimental silvicultural program in North America, spanning 14 research sites and over 200 management and science collaborators. This partnership reach is continuously growing across universities, state and federal agencies, conservation organizations, non-profits, student researchers, extension programs, and other groups in the adaptation space. Current research sites are located across the US and Canada, spanning a variety of forest ecosystems, as shown in the following map.

A key aspect of the network is its robust experimental design. Each network site tests three adaptation strategies, designing treatments to align with these adaptation concepts: Resistance, Resilience, and Transition, as well as a no-action control treatment. This creates a consistent framework to test outcomes across sites and determine how desired outcomes are achieved across a range of potential acceptable outcomes.

Since then, the Network has grown in both capacity and impact, ranging from the publication of peer-reviewed manuscripts to fostering climate adaptation work across various disciplines. Since the Network’s inception, collaborators have published at least 26 peer-reviewed manuscripts, informing the fields of forestry and ecology, along with rangeland management and other biological disciplines. For example, this magazine featured an article in 2023 on Assisting Tree Migration To Adapt to Climate by Guild members engaged in the Network. The Resistance-Resilience-Transition framework and coproduction process between managers and scientists at each ASCC site has served as a model for practitioners working in the climate adaptation space. ASCC sites have also been incorporated into training modules and workshops for foresters and other managers, including the National Advanced Silviculture Program, and has trained thousands of forestry professionals.

These impacts, along with a background on the ASCC Network and experimental design, are highlighted in the newly published conceptual paper on the Network and its role in the climate adaptation space. This paper is titled, Ten Years of Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change: An Applied, Coproduced Experimental Framework. Read the Nagel et al. (2025) paper here.

Written by Maria Vicini and the ASCC team

In 2017, the Network published a conceptual paper in the Journal of Forestry outlining the ASCC experimental design and the impetus for this work, titled: Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change: A National Experiment in Manager-Scientist Partnerships to Apply an Adaptation Framework . Read the Nagel et al. (2017) paper here.

The ASCC Network website contains additional information about the overall effort, as well as more detailed descriptions of the forest management prescriptions for each site. You can also listen to a podcast episode covering the new paper from the ASCC podcast series, ASCC’ing the Experts, which features an interview with Dr. Nagel.

An upcoming webinar hosted by the Forest Steward Guild on Thursday, March 5 at 12 PM MT/2 PM ET will dive into these key topics covered in the manuscript, including:

An overview of the ASCC experimental framework
How silviculture is central to the implementing climate adaptation
Definitions, advances in applying the Resistance-Resilience-Transition adaptation pathways and expected outcomes of the ASCC framework.
Emergent trends across the ASCC Network and key lessons learned
Core principles of the ASCC Network and its contribution to the broader adaptation community

You can RSVP for the webinar via the Forest Stewards Guild event registration page for the event.

Shared Stewardship

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 07:20:07 GMT

Collaborative approaches to stewardship have become essential for effective management of forest lands across the United States. While multi-partner cooperation in stewardship has existed for decades, “ Shared Stewardship ” as an official United States Forest Service (USFS) strategy was introduced in 2018 to identify shared priorities, marshal complementary capacities, and work across jurisdictional and geographic boundaries. It seeks to set the framework for management of millions of acres of our public lands, and because of the pivotal role of the USFS across the national forestry sector, Shared Stewardship will undoubtedly influence policies and programs that determine the direction of land management moving forward. The public is well served to understand the approach, its benefits, and its potential shortcomings.

GNA is indeed a powerful tool, and still some situations prevent the efficient application of the authority for forest management, necessitating other strategies and delivery methods. USFS has compiled ten “Tools for Implementation” under their Shared Stewardship guide that highlights what tools are available and where they are most applicable under the Shared Stewardship strategy. Once the appropriate tool(s) is identified, Shared Stewardship is actualized most often through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which states the justification for the agreement and the terms parties agree to.

So, Is There Anything New with Shared Stewardship?

Written by Michael McNorvell and Zander Evans

Presidential administrations often build on and refine prior federal land management frameworks to reflect evolving priorities and on-the-ground realities. Shared Stewardship draws from earlier cross-boundary wildfire and forest management strategies, like the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, and the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy , while placing a more explicit emphasis on state involvement and leadership. As this approach continues to take shape, there is an opportunity to ensure that state-led co-management is implemented in ways that maintain consistency across jurisdictions, support shared accountability, and effectively leverage the respective strengths of federal and partners.

Shared Stewardship is based on seven central ideas from USFS :
Work with states to set priorities and co-manage risk across broad landscapes.
Use new tools to conduct targeted investment planning.
Focus work on broad outcomes rather than outputs.
Capitalize on new or expanded federal authorities such as categorical exclusions.
Improve the USFS’s internal processes.
Use all active management tools including prescribed fire.
Apply a risk-based response to wildfire.

State assistance with federal land management is increasingly important as federal natural resource agencies navigate ongoing workforce transitions and capacity constraints. Since January 2025, USFS has experienced significant staffing reductions, with additional adjustments likely as agencies continue to realign priorities and resources. Long before 2025, however, the USFS has relied on the capacity and expertise of state agencies to advance core forestry objectives. This reliance is likely to grow as states and federal partners work together to meet the administration’s goal of increasing domestic timber production by 25 percent (see Executive Order 14225, Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production ).

Tom Schultz, the current Chief of the USFS, has provided his perspective on the central role of states in federal land management in a book chapter about cooperative federalism: “States can attain primacy to administer the federal laws on private, state, and even federal lands under the oversight of the federal government.” In cooperative federalism, states administer federal laws to manage and protect federal public lands in cooperation with the Forest Service. Chief Schultz sees state assistance in planning, development, and implementation as a way of reducing conflicts and gridlock, increasing the pace and scale of forest management, and allowing USFS to retain its decision-making authority.

The Shared Stewardship Toolkit

Shared Stewardship is a broad strategy rather than a detailed program or legally defined authority, so understanding its potential requires parsing a wide variety of actions, case studies, and statements. Many of the policies, authorities, and strategies employed under Shared Stewardship have been used to engage co-management of federal lands for years – sometimes decades – as standalone tools. One of the most familiar and widely-used is the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA), which grants federal agencies Congressional authority to enter into agreements with states, Tribes, and local governments. GNA is at the center of what most think of as “shared stewardship” between federal and state entities.

States’ Role in Shared Stewardship

Most recent Shared Stewardship agreements are between individual states and the USFS, though federal partnerships with tribes and other non-state entities also exist under Shared Stewardship including with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (see Putting Shared Stewardship into Practice ), the Western Governors’ Association , and with Sierra Pacific Industries . As Shared Stewardship MOU’s are formulated to meet the needs of individual states, so too are the strategies used to implement Shared Stewardship on unique ecosystems. Thus, each state has taken a slightly different approach to implement its vision of Shared Stewardship

The ‘Oregon Model’

Signed in 2019, Shared Stewardship between the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and USFS has taken a distinctly grassroots, bottom-up approach to co-managing federal lands. Grounded first and foremost in Oregon’s tradition of engaging forest stewardship collaboratives, Oregon’s MOU highlights the necessary role of tribal nations, industry practitioners, environmental groups, non-governmental organizations, community partners, and effective collaboratives in planning and executing landscape restoration on public and private lands. Oregon Shared Stewardship tasks all implementors with creating “[a] governance process that respects and builds on Oregon’s grassroots collaborative approach” ensuring local priorities and capacities shape project prioritization and implementation with limited funds.

Oregon’s collaborative approach resulted in a strong emphasis on landscape-scale resilience and addressing wildfire hazards to communities, evident in their 20-Year Landscape Resiliency Strategy . By the end of 2023, ODF’s Landscape Resiliency Program had provided $20 million in funding from the Oregon legislature to nine collaboratively led projects, and outperformed its treated acreage goal of around 211,000 acres. By 2025, an additional $10 million helped surpass treated-acreage objectives by more than 4,000 acres. These treatments have had the collective benefit of improving wildfire response and ecosystem health, all while encouraging commercially or ecologically desirable tree species, enhancing wildlife habitat, and providing woody material for culturally and commercially significant stream restoration projects. From the numbers, it presents a strong case for letting communities lead landscape-scale forest stewardship in their own backyards.

The “New” Montana Model: What’s Different?

Montana’s 2025 MOU on Shared Stewardship is similar in shape and sound to Oregon’s; both create Shared Stewardship frameworks for implementation, emphasize wildfire risk reduction, and maintain a multi-jurisdictional focus for landscape-scale resilience. So, what’s different? Well, they say timing is everything, and the Montana MOU on Shared Stewardship is informed in no small part by Executive Order 14225, which directly preceded its signing.

The Montana MOU highlights prioritization of activities that “restore American self-reliance and economic security.” It responds to recent lumber mill closures and supports forest-dependent, rural economies. The agreement is framed as a large‑scale forest management expansion focused on wildfire resilience, timber extraction, and increasing pace and scale of forest treatments. The USFS and Montana Department of Natural Resources are working together to identify and implement projects, focusing initially on 200,000 acres in northwest Montana where timber industry capacity remains but needs support. Chief Schultz has cited Montana’s Shared Stewardship as a model for future agreements. For example, the new Shared Stewardship agreement with Idaho sets a goal of doubling state-led projects on federal forests to 100 million board feet by 2030.

Opportunities to Increase Collaboration

Shared Stewardship provides an effective framework for addressing wildfire risk across millions of acres of federal and adjacent forest lands. Experience has shown that collaborative stewardship approaches can be both effective and durable, as demonstrated by long-standing partnerships such as those in Oregon. As Shared Stewardship emphasizes state leadership within a cooperative federalist framework, continued dialogue around roles, pacing, and implementation will help ensure that expansion is matched with operational capacity and on-the-ground readiness. Aligning this approach with the ambitious goals of the Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production Executive Order will be essential for scaling efforts efficiently while maintaining long-term forest resilience.

The growing emphasis on states and the practical reliance on GNA risks overlooking other important collaborators. Tribes have tremendous potential to partner with the USFS, particularly on lands they have stewarded long before the advent of the USFS or even the U.S. As sovereign nations, Tribes have access to a range of authorities and tools including GNA, the Tribal Forest Protection Act, Reserve Treaty Rights Land, and 638 Compacting. Tribal forest stewardship programs could be engaged to address a range of federal stewardship challenges. Other important players are excluded from GNA such as NGOs. Organizations like The Nature Conservancy, Sustainable Northwest, Wallowa Resources, Mount Adams Resource Stewards, and the Guild, have brought creativity, flexibility, and people-power to collaborative forest management for decades and should continue to play their central role.

Other questions remain about how states handle important parts of public land management like public engagement, comment, administrative review, and Tribal consultation. Few would claim the existing complexities of federal forest management are working perfectly, but a rapid shift to a state-led approach may neglect federal responsibilities.

The Guild is working to support stewardship of federal lands and is actively engaged in Shared Stewardship. As always, we advocate for management that meets ecological, economic, and social needs. Please reach out if you have Shared Stewardship success stories or are interested in participating in peer-learning workshops to discuss what’s working in the woods via Shared Stewardship.

More Information

The Guild welcomes Jeremy Marshall to Southwest Staff

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Jeremy Marshall

Although having grown up in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles, I was fortunate to have spent considerable time as a child in the Sierra Nevada mountains where I grandfather had property on the Kern River. When it came to choosing a college, I knew I wanted to study forestry, so I chose Humboldt State University up in the redwoods. At the time the backdrop to my studies was the Northwest timber wars in the early 1990s and the subsequent Northwest Forest Plan and the inherent conflicts. I soon found out that forestry did not entirely deal with trees but mostly people and the values of society.

After graduating college, I got a dream job as a field Ecologist for the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station doing Forest Inventory and Analysis vegetation plots for 15 years. I was fortunate to work in wilderness areas such as the Frank Church River of No Return and the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, backpacking and measuring trees across the Rockies from Montana to Arizona. I got paid “in sunsets” as they say and had amazing adventures across the Rockies. Although it was a wonderful job, it didn’t give you much opportunity to effect change on a specific ecological or social landscape.

After I left the Research Station, I worked on the Willamette National Forest in Western Oregon as a Natural Resource Staff Officer where I had the fortunate timing to dip my toe into collaboration. This area was ground central of the timber wars in the 1990s, and the former timber mill town of Sweet Home was trying to redefine itself in the post timber economy, and this was a first of its kind collaboration on Willamette NF at the time. I was part of the Sweet Home All Lands Collaborative with a diverse group of stakeholders doing All Lands restoration work. I used this experience gained to become the SW Jemez Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) Implementation coordinator for the Santa Fe NF where I started working closely with the Forest Stewards Guild as a collaborative partner working on Northern New Mexico restoration work in late 2012.

After 30 years holding various roles in the US Forest Service such as District Ranger, Natural Resource Staff Officer, a couple of Deputy Forest Supervisor details, and finally the Rio Chama CFLRP Team Leader I retired early in 2025 to focus on my family. In my new role as the Guild’s Southwest Senior Forester, I am working in the same 2-3-2 collaborative landscape and get to engage with the same partners doing amazing restoration work!

The Guild welcomes Anna Stearns to Southwest Staff

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Anna Stearns

I am excited to join the Guild as a Conservation Manager in the southwest region. I earned my degree in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from Colorado State University. After graduating I spent a couple of field seasons counting birds for Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) program with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCR). From there I went on to work for a small environmental consulting firm in northern Wyoming where I conducted wildlife surveys throughout Wyoming and Montana. I then transferred to New Mexico and shortly after took a partner biologist position with BCR in partnership with USDA NRCS in northeast New Mexico. After working in partnership with NRCS I joined the federal workforce and worked as a Soil Conservation Technician with NRCS.

I come to the Guild from working in the Great Plains for my entire career. Although I will always hold a special place in my heart for the grasslands of North America, I am excited for a change in scenery and to work in different landscapes.

One thing that holds true regardless of the landscape I am working in is the importance of the work that I do. Humans have made ownership boundaries across the landscape that the natural world doesn’t follow. This is where the importance of partnerships come in; working together regardless of ownership boundaries for the good of a community as a whole – for the lands, for the people that have lived and worked the lands for generations, and for the wildlife that have shared that same land throughout time.

In my role at the Guild, I will be leading a three-year initiative designed to increase awareness and participation in conservation programs available for private landowners. I will be working on promoting awareness specifically to underserved rural communities in northern New Mexico and working to strengthen the capacity of these communities and local organizations to adopt and promote natural resource conservation practices on the ground.

I am delighted to be working for a nonprofit that cares deeply about the impact they make on the world and the employees that make up their organization. I look forward to making a difference in the lives of rural communities across northern New Mexico as well as enriching my own life working for an organization that values their employees and appreciates the experiences and perspectives they bring to the table.

The Guild welcomes Alex Kaste to Southwest Staff

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Alex Kaste

Alex Kaste joined the Guild in January 2026 as the Southwest Project Coordinator, where he supports the Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) and contributes to the Fire Adapted New Mexico Learning Network (FACNM). In this role, Alex works closely with landowners, community partners, and local organizations to support fuels reduction efforts, increase wildfire preparedness, and strengthen collaboration across the wildland–urban interface (WUI) in northern New Mexico, with a focus on the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed.

Alex’s interest in land stewardship and wildfire resilience began during his undergraduate studies at Oregon State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation Science, along with a minor in Ichthyology and a certification in Geographic Information Sciences. While at OSU, Alex gained hands-on experience assisting with a coastal cutthroat trout monitoring project on the Willamette River and working as a Stewardship Technician with Greenbelt Land Trust. Through this work, he developed an appreciation for caring for working landscapes and supporting the people who depend on them. His first experience with prescribed fire—participating in oak release treatments—sparked a lasting interest in how proactive forest management can reduce wildfire risk while improving ecological health.

Following graduation, Alex worked with the Sonoma Ecology Center in California as a Restoration Technician and GIS Field Specialist. There, he supported fuels reduction, prescribed burning, and vegetation management projects in fire-prone landscapes near communities. Working in the WUI reinforced the importance of thoughtful, community-supported approaches to wildfire mitigation and highlighted the role that collaboration plays in protecting homes, infrastructure, and natural resources.

Alex later moved to New Mexico to join the Bureau of Land Management’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) Program as an Ecological Monitoring Crew Lead. This position allowed him to work across the state’s diverse public lands and deepen his understanding of New Mexico’s diverse ecosystems. After a successful field season, he was promoted to Ecological Data Analyst and Crew Supervisor, where he helped translate field observations into information that land managers and partners could use to guide restoration and fuels treatment priorities.

Alex strongly identifies with the Guild’s mission to forge a healthy future for people and forests through responsible stewardship. Witnessing the impacts of catastrophic wildfire in the WUI in both New Mexico and California underscored for him the urgency of proactive fuels reduction, shared responsibility, and community preparedness. Through his work on the Community Wildfire Defense Grant and with FACNM, Alex is excited to help build relationships, support local leadership, and contribute to communities becoming safer, more resilient, and better prepared to live with fire.

Outside of work, Alex enjoys mountain biking, exploring northern New Mexico’s public lands, and spending time outdoors with his wife and cat, Fitz.

The Guild’s Leadership

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Guild benefits from two leadership teams. Our Board of Directors bears the fiduciary responsibility for the organization and oversees budgets, investments, and other financial matters. The Membership and Policy Council writes policy and position statements for the Guild and sets membership guidelines. Both teams are made up of Guild members and help ensure the Guild is meeting the needs of stewards across the country. Both of the Guild’s leadership teams added new members in December.

The Guild’s Board of Directors

The Forest Stewards Guild has been fortunate to have an effective and thoughtful board . Over the last three decades, they have guided the Guild through challenges and kept the organization on a firm foundation. At their December meeting, the Guild’s board elected Austin Himes, Assistant Professor at Washington State University’s School of the Environment, to join their ranks. Austin has been an active Guild member, serving on the Membership and Policy Council as well as helping with the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit. John Galvan, forester at Jemez Pueblo Natural Resource Department, was reelected for another term on the board. John has been active on the board. He joined staff on a policy trip to Washington, DC, at the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit, and the recent Ponderosa Pine Utilization Summit – in addition to co-authoring an article in the most recent issue of Forest Steward .

At the same meeting, The board elected Amber Ellering, Forest Policy and Planning Supervisor at Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, as chair and Tony D’Amato, professor and director of the Forestry Program at University of Vermont, as vice-chair. Peter Hayes, president at Hyla Woods, and Kaarsten Turner, forester at Earth Force Technologies, will continue as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Al Sample, professor at George Mason University, will serve as past chair. It is worth highlighting Al’s service on the board so far. Al was a founding member of the Guild and has served on the board for almost the Guild’s entire history (with a short sabbatical from 2005 to 2007). Over that time, he served as the board chair for 12 years. Al led the Guild’s board during turbulent times such as the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID pandemic. The board will continue to benefit from his institutional memory and panoramic knowledge of forestry and conservation.

Membership and Policy Council elections

Professional (including those retired) and Lifetime Guild members elected three new members to their representative Membership and Policy Council (MPC), for terms running January 2026 through December 2028. Thank you to those who voted. A Guild-wide thanks to all candidates who ran for our MPC this year.

Please welcome our new MPC members: Stephen Montgomery, Kristen Pelz, Alexandra Kosiba. Your MPC is arranging a virtual meet & greet with new members soon, so you can learn more about the council overall, and how you, as Guild members, can engage with them. In the meantime, check out MPC member bios and contact information on our MPC webpage .

Thank you to Tish Carr, Clint Patterson, who stepped down from the MPC at the end of their terms in December, and to Austin Himes, who shifted his service to the Board of Directors. Your insights, dedication, and contributions over the past three years+ have been more valuable than we can express.

A note from Colleen Robinson (Guild Communications Manager and the staff liaison to our MPC): I keep noticing how the MPC’s collaborations and contributions happen both formally and more informally. Ideas and comments or feedback that are casually mentioned in MPC meetings end up enriching a project, or opening up an entire new realm of thought about a policy. Also, detailed, collaborative discussions and edits improve Guild policy statements. The feedback MPC provides to Guild staff and members, and the assistance they provide at key times of the Guild’s membership calendar, are appreciated, and help make us an ever-stronger community. Thank you to all who have served and who will serve the Guild’s MPC! It’s truly a delight to work with you.

Written by Colleen Robinson

Tending Your Forest Offers Landowners Actionable Guidance and Invaluable Advice

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I joined the Guild staff back in August and while I arrived to the team with a strong background in nonprofit management and philanthropy, I am a novice to the world of forestry. My passion for trees brought me to this mission, but I knew I’d have so much knowledge to build about stewardship, ecological forestry, sustainable practices, etc., to truly grasp the value that the Guild offers our forests.

When it was brought to me that an advanced copy of Paul Catanzaro and Anthony D’Amato’s new book, Tending Your Forest, was made available to the Guild, I was excited for the opportunity to review it. I dove into this read knowing that I would learn a ton, but I hadn’t anticipated how engaging the read would be, especially as someone who doesn’t directly own a plot of land to steward.

Whatever anxieties I had about how its content might be over my head or its focus irrelevant to my life were quickly assuaged as I dug in. Catanzaro and D’Amato’s style balances zooming into technical details when those are relevant, while keeping an eye on a big picture, and flexible philosophy that educates and empowers but doesn’t shame landowners who may not know where to start. They build connections between individual choices in the short run, to a long-term stewardship mentality, which requires an eye to forecasting impact on the next generation, or even better, seven generations down the line, as Indigenous stewards teach.

My favorite thing about the book is how its layout is structured so that it meets many different reader needs and learning styles. It has long-form details for those who learn through in-depth reading, alongside pop-out boxes of practical, hands-on “field guide” style activities those who need to experience to learn will enjoy. These activities encourage landowners to put their boots on and get out there to analyze their land’s current state, their personal goals, and what key questions to ask themselves. The suggested activities will also enable landowners to discover or refine their stewardship goals and select the best strategies and concrete next steps needed to implement and reach them.

I love to read when flying, so I had planned to check out Tending Your Forest when I was in transit between my adult home in Austin, TX and a recent visit to my home of origin in the suburbs of Indianapolis, IN. The geographic focus of Tending Your Forest is the northeast quadrant of the US which spans from Maine to Minnesota, with Indiana right in its heart. I hadn’t intentionally planned to use the knowledge I gained when I arrived, but I found that I couldn’t help but talk about the book. Discussions were especially relevant with my in-laws who Town a small wooded piece of land they plan to keep wooded in an area of rapid new development. Some of the tips and activities Catanzaro and D’Amato shared came up more than once during my visit and they are excited to explore them further.

For any landowners who may have an interest in ecological forestry in particular but who may feel intimidated about where to start, Tending Your Forest should be a go-to resource. Catanzaro and D’Amato have lovingly and expertly crafted a book that is part how-to guide, part science text, part sage advice, part practical hands-on workbook, and part goal-setting and strategy. Tending Your Forest will officially be released on March 17 and can be found at your favorite bookseller!

Written by Ami Kane

Member Highlight: Gerry Hawkes has earned Vermont Tree Farmer of the Year

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Michelle Giles

Gerry is excited to host a Guild Gathering in Spring 2026, giving members a chance to see his stewardship firsthand. “I am thrilled to be able to share this with people” says Gerry, “I feel good about how it’s all turned out. And that makes me really joyful”

This event is part of our 30th Anniversary celebrations, which include activities across the country. Check out this ‘Save the Date’ to find out more!

Congratulations to Gerry Hawkes, a longtime Guild member, forester, and tree farmer, who has earned the 2025 Vermont Tree Farmer of the Year award from the Vermont Woodlands Association! For 55 years, Gerry has managed his 60 acres in Vermont’s Southern Green Mountains, practicing ecological forestry and drawing on a lifetime of careful observation and a deep respect for nature. His methods rely on rotational thinning to enhance tree health and combat threats such as the sugar maple borer and invasive species—often utilizing small-scale logging equipment he designed and built himself.

Student reflection from the 2025 SAF National Convention

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Samuel Fajana

As a youth delegate and representative of Youth4Nature, I had the opportunity to present the work of Y4N – specifically our storytelling program called “Faces of Forestry” – at the Innovation zone during the convention. Faces of Forestry is a living library existing to close the gap of the unrecognized work of people who sustain and care for our forests. Through storytelling, we showcase the human side to forestry and amplify the diversity of forests, people and practices that keep them healthy and sustained. I had about 25 attendees who listened to my presentation and watched the Faces of Forestry video series we filmed during the 9th American Forest Congress in July. This was an engaging moment for young people and youth leaders at the convention to share in the opportunity to connect with us and learn about our work.

The innovation zone was a great place to learn about what the convention exhibitors are doing as well as an opportunity to connect with them. As a young professional and student seeking career opportunities, the exhibition and innovation zone provided me and other young people at the convention to network with potential employers and organizations that are relevant to our career interests.

During the exhibitions, I connected with several organizations and learned more about the work they do within the forest sector as well as asked questions about how they create opportunities for young people and early career professionals. I witnessed poster presentations by students from different universities across the country with research that explored different forest topics.

My takeaway from these experiences is that while the human side of forestry can be under-appreciated and unrecognized, the convention provided the experience of hearing stories and learning about how far we have come, how much work has been done, and what is next for the work of sustainable forestry. This experience helped me learn more about the diverse work going on within the forest sector and the gaps young professionals like myself can fill, to lead system-wide solutions for our forests.

I am incredibly grateful for the experience and the great support received from Forest Stewards Guild through Forest Stewardship Council Sponsors Clearwater Corporation & FRAM, and Guild staffer Mackenzie Alexander. I look forward to being part of the 2026 SAF National Convention.

My name is Samuel Fajana, a global ambassador for Youth4Nature and graduate student at Florida A&M University. I was privileged enough to participate at the 2025 SAF National Convention: 125 Years of Forestry and Natural Resources. This event celebrated more than a century of professional forestry by the Society of American Foresters through the support of Youth4Nature (Y4N), Society of American Foresters, and the Forest Stewards Guild. The convention hosted 1,400 attendees working within different sectors of forestry and through insightful plenary sessions, technical field tours, workshops, scientific and technical sessions, presentations, meetups and exhibitions, the convention created a space to reflect on the work of forestry and also the people who care for it’s health and sustainability through different generations.

The students and young professionals social events created an opportunity for students at the convention to connect, network and engage in conversations that allowed us to share our work, career journey and aspirations. This meet-up was really fun, engaging and also insightful as I got to share the story behind my journey into forestry and also learned about other people’s stories. Despite having a unique story as an international student from Nigeria, I had a great time connecting and networking. The young professional meetup, was a session dedicated to build opportunities for young people. We had industry leader facilitaters at each table ready to answer questions about mentorship, networking, career building, volunteering, and work ethic. It was a roundtable discussion where everyone shared their thoughts and asked questions and I also got selected to be interviewed by the convention media team where I shared my convention experience and what stood out for me the most so far. These social meetups were opportunities to cool down, unwind and also connect with amazing people from different parts of the country and works of life. I must say it was one of the best parts of the convention for me because I had a chance to network, gain more insights into how the forestry professional space in the US works and practice my elevator pitch with some industry leaders.

Recap of SAF Audubon Training

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Jeff Dubis

The group of nearly 30 participants visited several different silvicultural treatments on the Huntington Forest where participants had the opportunity to apply what they learned in the morning and to discuss how different silvicultural treatments can favor different songbird species. It was also an opportunity for professionals to discuss the ever-present beech bark disease and its impact on successful regeneration of Adirondack forests. Participants who completed the one-day training have the option to obtain Audubon Endorsement. To do so, they must provide two examples of new or revised management plans that integrate bird friendly habitat management.

In September, the Forest Stewards Guild, in conjunction with the Adirondack Chapter of the NY Society of American Foresters, hosted a NY Audubon Forester Endorsement Training. The training aims to create a network of professional foresters working in partnership with Audubon to promote healthy forest ecosystems that provide high-quality habitat for birds. The training was held at SUNY ESF’s Huntington Wildlife Forest in Newcomb and was led by Claire Mann and Suzanne Treyger of the Audubon Society. The training began in the morning with indoor presentations and was followed up with an afternoon field session.

Ponderosa Pine Utilization Summit

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Ponderosa pine forests are a cornerstone of resilient western landscapes, historically maintained by frequent, low-intensity fires which create open, drought-tolerant stands. A century of fire suppression and changes in land use have increased forest density, fuel loads, and the risk of high-severity wildfire. At the same time, utilization of ponderosa pine for timber and other forest products has declined, leaving limited markets for small-diameter and low-value material. The combination of a loss of milling infrastructure, and lack of viable markets threatens slow active forest management, increasing the risk of high-severity wildfire to both communities and landscapes.

Key challenges identified at the Summit included inconsistent timber supply due to regulatory complexity and litigation, limited markets and secondary infrastructure for low-value material, high transportation costs, and workforce recruitment and retention barriers. Promising solutions include long-term planning in NEPA-ready landscapes, stacking funding across sources, distributed and co-located wood processing facilities, conversion of residuals into value-added products, investment incentives for infrastructure, and collaborative workforce development strategies.

With the challenge clear, participants shifted to solutions. Lead Facilitator for the Summit and Guild member Karen Hardigg said “What was most exciting for me was learning how others are tackling the same issues in completely different places. Being in a room with industry, agencies, researchers, and practitioners from across the West helped us see what’s possible and offered actions people can take home and apply.”

Summit participants shared examples from across the range of ponderosa pine where collaboration among land managers and businesses within a region or woodshed, including partners who might have been overlooked in the past, helped make wood supply more consistent. For example, Tribes, utilities, and non-industrial private landowners can provide wood as a complement to large acreages like the National Forests.

To overcome the persistent challenge of limited markets for low-value and small diameter wood, targeted incentives such as tax credits, accelerated depreciation, or infrastructure sighting support, could encourage investment in biomass and other secondary processing facilities. Participants noted the opportunities for mass timber and cross-laminated timber, particularly as a way of providing affordable housing. The Summit highlighted innovative new products with potential for wide adoption, and hence increased demand for ponderosa pine.

The need for dependable workforce wove throughout the Summit. Gaps in forestry, logging, trucking, and mill work surfaced in the discussions. Participants shared successful approaches to recruiting and retaining workers. A more detailed report focused on actions to advance ponderosa pine utilization and restoration efforts will be available in the new year.

During the first snow of the season, the Guild partnered with the Council of State Foresters, US Forest Service, and others to host the Ponderosa Pine Utilization Summit in Flagstaff, Arizona. Over 120 experts from forest industry, research, land management, non-governmental organizations, utilities, and other sectors worked together on November 18 and 19th to identify key barriers, develop practical solutions, explore innovations, and identify the necessary resources to expand ponderosa pine utilization and speed restoration across the West. The agenda first focused on careful description of the challenges and then dug into actionable solutions.

High transportation costs and dispersed mills often make ponderosa pine utilization economically challenging. Participants discussed the benefit of co-locating processing facilities into a “wood campus” that could reduce transportation costs and create efficiencies by operators sharing infrastructure. Another recurring theme was that secondary processing capacity is foundational to the success of mills. For example, John Galvan who works for Jemez Pueblo’s Department of Natural Resources and serves on the Guild’s Board of Directors shared the success at Walatowa Timber Industries’ Mill (as described in the latest issue of Forest Steward ).

Meet Alex Etkind, Prescribed Fire Project Manager

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Prior to joining the Guild, I was the Fire Ecologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs – Southwest Region. In this role, I developed prescriptions for wildfire hazard reduction projects, led ignitions operations as a Firing Boss, and provided guidance as a Resource Advisor, ensuring that natural and cultural resources were protected during prescribed fires. After wildfires occurred, I monitored fire effects and evaluated the effectiveness of fuel treatments, incorporating this information to enable adaptive management.

Previous work as a forester and wildland firefighter with the New Mexico Forestry Division and as a project manager for the New Mexico Land Conservancy solidified my understanding of the challenges that lie ahead for the land and people of New Mexico. Additional experience as a consulting forester, wildland fire specialist, and prescribed fire contractor prepared me to facilitate partnerships between different stakeholder groups, set realistic expectations, and achieve meaningful outcomes. One of the most interesting things about being a prescribed fire contractor was learning from the wide range of people who use fire and beginning to understand the many different reasons why they burn. I learned that fire was not just a tool to be used for a single precise purpose, but also a restorative process with the potential to promote balance and abundance across entire landscapes.

Although I only recently joined the Guild, I have worked alongside Guild members and staff throughout my career. The steady presence of the Guild and its focus on both the land and people’s relationships with the land is what makes it unique. I feel grateful to work with an organization that provides the opportunity to combine my background in wildland fire, forestry, and ecology into on-the-ground land stewardship.

As the Prescribed Fire Project Manager, I provide planning, coordination, and implementation of beneficial fire. Through my work with the Guild, I help people understand their fire management options, and I facilitate the essential role of prescribed fire in forest stewardship. My background in wildland fire and forestry includes work with private landowners, land trusts, government agencies, and Indigenous nations. I enjoy the challenge of working with a wide range of people to achieve shared goals and I am excited to join the Guild in its work to increase the capacity for prescribed fire across all lands in New Mexico.

Burning at Black Lake 2025

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Maya Hilty

It would be the first day of ignitions on a 370-acre collaborative prescribed broadcast burn organized in part by the Forest Stewards Guild – and only the second burn of my early career in ecological forestry with the Guild.

Day to day, I work in the Santa Fe area promoting homeowner wildfire preparedness. During the fall and winter, however, I’m lucky to be one of a dozen Guild staff with wildland firefighting training who are called on to support prescribed burns across New Mexico through the Guild and The Nature Conservancy’s All-Hands All-Lands (AHAL) prescribed fire network.

I value being a part of the AHAL team for many reasons, including the opportunities to leave the office for the forest and contribute to landscape-scale resilience to severe wildfires in our state. While I still have much to learn, my first few prescribed fires have also been a great learning experience to help demystify prescribed burns – how they work, who implements them, and why.

By some miracle (read: a lot of relationship-building and logistical planning by my colleagues at the Guild), all of those people managed to assemble in Black Lake for a week of work – despite heavy rains delaying the burn for weeks after our initial target window.

In a nutshell, after an afternoon of getting to know each other and the area we’d burn, we ignited both the perimeter and the interior of unit with handheld drip torches for two days, and spent the final days securing the edges of the unit – aided by an overnight rainstorm – by putting out stumps near the edge and moving any heavy fuels further interior.

At work in Santa Fe, I often encounter people with a lot of fear around prescribed fire. A man once denounced them to me as just creepy. It’s not a sentiment I’d blame anyone for given how rarely people see good fire at work, but I can attest that isn’t at all how I felt on the fireline at Black Lake. Watching fire meander through grasses, pine needles, shrubs, loads of downed logs, and pockets of tree regeneration, I instead found myself reflecting on the feeling of being a part of the natural rhythm of the landscape.

For me, being on prescribed burns has been a step towards relearning how to work with and appreciate fire in our forests. I hope projects similar to the Black Lake Rx can continue opening the door into the fire world for even more people in the future.

In late October, months of work by many other people landed me in a mountain meadow near Black Lake, New Mexico, stuffing my pack and pants pockets with everything I’d need for the day: Food, water, sunscreen, a few layers, some PPE, a radio, a lighter.

Regarding who’s burning in New Mexico, the Black Lake Rx was a unique amalgamation of diverse groups. The burn occurred on public land owned by the New Mexico State Land Office and was bossed by The Nature Conservancy, but the roughly 50 people who took part also came from the Forest Stewards Guild, the Guild’s youth crews, Angel Fire Fire Department, Picuris Pueblo, Highlands University, the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico Forestry Division and Moreno Valley Fire Department.

Overall, the burn went smoothly and achieved the ecological objectives, such as consuming ground fuels and some saplings with limited mature tree mortality – alone, a success. On top of that, this burn provided an opportunity for many people like me with little to no experience in fire to participate in and learn from the process of bringing beneficial fire back to the landscape.

Meet Anna Jaramillo-Scarborough, Watershed Restoration Program Manager

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Anna Jaramillo-Scarborough

For generations, my family irrigated their garden, orchard, and fields via a centuries-old acequia. This taught me the immeasurable value of water in the Southwest, and just how uncertain water delivery can be. This experience had a profound influence on me and is one of the reasons I chose a career in natural resources.

I recently retired from the Forest Service after 25 years in watershed improvement and management, including over 10 years coordinating the post-fire stabilization program for the national forests in Arizona and New Mexico. Managing the post-fire stabilization program altered the lens through which I view watershed management and restoration in the Southwest. It was devastating to see these beloved mountain ranges experience catastrophic fires and the extreme flooding that followed in less than two decades.

I am thrilled to be working with the Guild as it has given me the opportunity to come back to work in the landscape that will always be home for me. I hope to use my skills to contribute to protection, conservation and restoration of waterways and habitats, so they may be resilient enough to withstand changes in the landscape in the future.

As the watershed restoration program manager, I collaborate with partners and draft restoration plans primarily on national forests in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. I was born and raised in northern New Mexico, nestled between the Jemez Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I spent much of my childhood exploring the bosque (riparian forests) of the Rio Chama and Rio Grande.

Fall FSYC Training

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Andrew Pearson

On a warm morning in late August, fifteen strangers gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico for their first glimpse of what would become a life-changing chapter in their careers. As new crew members in the Guild’s Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) program, these individuals had expressed an interest in working in natural resources in their home communities; few had any prior experience in this field but a willingness to learn and a determination to stick with it would prove key. Over the course of the next three days, the bigger picture of what this seasonal job would demand became clear as each crew became a tight-knit cadre. Though no promises of physical comfort or consistent scheduling were made, the three crews from Mountainair, Santa Fe, and Pueblo of Jemez were eager to get their hands dirty.

The first full week of training encompassed all the coursework and fieldwork necessary to become a wildland firefighter. Crew members studied the factors of fire behavior, weather effects, and topography before heading outside to complete hands-on training. Physically constructing a hose assembly from a fire engine was a tangible bridge from the theoretical classroom work already completed. Other important lessons included hand line construction (and the realization of how tiring it is!), radio communications, and backcountry navigation. The social-emotional aspect of this week of training was also a vital learning experience; crews camped out together, shared meals, and spent free time playing basketball in a gravel lot. In an age of increasing social deprivation, simply connecting with one another without technological distractions was a huge success.

After a long Labor Day weekend full of rest, relaxation, and hot showers, the crews gathered back together for the last week of their formal onboarding: wildland fire chainsaw training. While many rural New Mexicans have some level of experience operating chainsaws to gather firewood, there’s a big difference between running a saw on private land for personal projects and operating one on a fire line to complete operational objectives. In a way, the crew members with no prior saw experience had an easier time as there was no pre-existing muscle memory or poor technique to overcome. Chainsaws are a powerful tool on the fireline, capable of downing hazardous trees, clearing brush, and bucking up burning logs into manageable lengths. With that utility, however, comes an inherent amount of risk; a misguided tree falling can easily damage personnel or vehicles, and an ounce of carelessness by the saw operator can result in an emergency evacuation. To combat this, heavy emphasis in training is placed on proper saw control, situational awareness, and backcountry medical care in the event of an incident. Crews practiced evacuating a victim from the forest on a team-carry litter and the complex logistics that exercise entails. By the end of the week, each crew member had demonstrated aptitude by assessing a tree’s hazards, creating a falling plan, and executing that plan to a safe completion.

Upon finishing these two weeks of immersive training, our three crews returned to their host units to begin the crucial on-the-ground work they were brought on to complete including fire line preparation, forest thinning, and prescribed burn implementation. But before the first shovel even hit the ground, the FSYC program had already become a resounding success. Empowering and enabling young New Mexicans to contribute to their local economies and ecologies has always been a stated goal of FSYC, but to watch a cohort of inexperienced individuals transform into a confident, proficient, and cohesive professional unit capable of anything they put their minds to, now and in the future, is the real beauty of the program. Whether these crew members continue on to careers in wildland fire, forest management, or something completely unrelated one thing remains true: FSYC continues to serve as a powerful tool for professional development, personal growth, and investment in the next generation of rural New Mexican communities.

Birds, Bogs, and Forestry – a two-day Lowland Spruce Workshop in Minnesota

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Christian Nelson, Forest Stewards Guild Lake States Coordinator

The two-day event was organized by American Bird Conservancy Northern Forests Conservation Delivery Network Coordinator, and Guild member, Jayme Strange, in partnership with several organizations including the Forest Stewards Guild and the University of Minnesota. The event tied in aspects of the recently completed Forestry for Minnesota Birds Guidebook .

Black spruce ( Picea mariana ) is a long-lived, boreal tree species found in areas with cold and short growing seasons. This species is at the southern extent of its range in the Great Lakes and Northeastern parts of the U.S. but is found widely across the Canadian and Alaskan boreal forest before diminishing as the boreal forest meets the tundra in the far-north.

In Minnesota, black spruce is primarily found in low, peatland and muck soil bogs and fens that range in size from small depressions to massive bog complexes. Black spruce is also found as an upland species in the far northeastern part of the state on shallow soils over bedrock. Overall, black spruce is considered the dominant cover on roughly nine percent or 1.4 million acres of the state’s forested lands. Many of the peatland stands are nearly pure black spruce. In other areas, it grows in association with other species. On wet sites it is found in association with tamarack and northern white cedar, and on dryer sites it is found with aspen, paper birch, jack pine, red maple, white spruce, and black ash.

Black spruce stands also provide essential habitat for several wildlife species including the Connecticut Warbler, Golden- and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Boreal Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, Spruce Grouse, Great Gray Owl, bog lemming, and snowshoe hare. The understory of black spruce stands often consists of a soft carpet of sphagnum mosses and wetland plant and shrub species like leatherleaf, cottongrass, pink, yellow, and Showy Lady Slippers (Minnesota’s state flower). Dense stands can provide cool summer habitat and warmer winter habitat with lower snow depth than adjacent areas.

Historically, black spruce has been managed using even-aged silviculture techniques such as clear cutting and strip-cutting. Post-harvest areas are often replanted with nursery stock or aerial-seeded using planes or helicopters. Dwarf mistletoe, a native-parasitic plant that causes short-stubby growth, slow decline, and eventual mortality , has long been cited as a reason to harvest all trees over five feet tall within a stand with no reserves.

A cultural shift in forestry practices and concern for declining wildlife dependent on spruce stands, has many foresters looking for silvicultural alternatives that more closely resemble historic disturbance patterns and the resulting heterogeneity in stand structure, age, and species composition that may result. Climate issues also fuel concern for the long-term prospects of a species growing at the southern edge of its range across the U.S.

This event challenged attendees to weigh the complex tradeoffs inherent in forest management. It was particularly interesting to think about these tradeoffs in a plant community that is often overlooked and understudied yet provides critical ecological and economic benefits to the region. We did not end with a clear answer on how to proceed. That answer likely falls firmly in the land of ‘it depends’ but the discussion was rich, enlightening, and inspiring.

The morning and afternoon first-day presentations were recorded and can be watched in their entirety on the Northern Forest Birds Network YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@northernforestbirdsnetwork

Fifty foresters and wildlife managers gathered in early October at the University of Minnesota’s Cloquet Forestry Center for a rich discussion on black spruce biology, ecology, economics, and management and capped the event with a field tour of the renowned Sax-Zim Bog. This extensive bog is one of the only places in the Lower 48 where boreal bird species can be consistently seen. The site attracts birders from across the nation, including a visit from Owen Wilson’s character in the 2011 film The Big Year starring Wison alongside Steve Martin and Jack Black.

Black spruce is an important economic resource in Minnesota, coming in (a distant) second place behind quaking aspen in pulpwood utilization. Black spruce produces long, strong, wood fibers that are required for producing high quality paper products. It is also utilized by sawmills when it is available in large enough diameters. As dimensional lumber it is known for straight lines, durability, light weight, and dimensional stability. The tops of small black spruce trees, especially those found in wet, near-stagnant stands, are sold across the U.S. for ornamental winter season displays, like mini-Christmas trees.

Throughout the two-day workshop, experts made a case that concerns about dwarf mistletoe may be overstated. Pockets of mistletoe-caused mortality are often found to harbor other tree species, adding to species diversity, climate change resilience, and providing more habitat than black spruce alone. Structural diversity can be enhanced by strip cutting, or group-selection, providing continuous habitat not seen in traditionally managed clearcut areas, while reducing reforestation costs. Stand features, such as species diversity, vertical and horizontal structure, age diversity, standing dead trees, downed wood, gaps, and retained groups of living legacy trees, greatly increase the value of the stand to wildlife without degrading the short-term economic viability of management nor long-term economic value of the stand. Foresters and wildlife managers at the meeting discussed experimentation and thinking about outside-of-the-box approaches to achieve economic goals while retaining and enhancing wildlife value.

Celebrating Eytan Krasilovsky & Mike Lynch

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

People make the Guild special. Members, staff, and supporters light the spark that powers the Guild’s positive impact. We’re lucky to have many of our founding members still actively engaged as we celebrate our 30th anniversary. Recognizing staff who have demonstrated their commitment to our mission over decades is also important. Eytan Krasilovsky and Mike Lynch have both hit milestones worth celebrating.

Eytan, one of the Guild’s Deputy Directors, and our longest-serving staff member, has worked at the Guild for 20 years. Eytan is the heart of the Guild in New Mexico. His passion to do the right thing for rural communities and forests desperate for restoration inspires everyone he works with. Eytan is creative – always pushing forward with new ideas – and he has the dedication to see them become reality. His energy and expertise have generated a long list of accomplishments over the last two decades, too long to list here. One on-going endeavor can serve as an example. In 2008, the Guild reviewed forest restoration projects implemented in New Mexico, and Eytan identified that the prescribed burning the forests needed wasn’t happening. Eytan proceeded over the next decade to fix that problem. Not on his own of course, he’d be quick to share the credit, but the culture of good fire that exists today in New Mexico would not exist without Eytan’s determination and ability to build consensus. He set up the Guild’s first prescribed burn, helped move forward state legislation to facilitate good fire, fostered coalitions to garner public support, and ensured connectivity with national efforts. His work continues as this past summer he and partners installed an AI driven wildfire detection camera running on Tesuque Peak. Even as this article is published, Eytan is helping to coordinate a multi-agency controlled burn near Black Lake, New Mexico ( read more from this area from 2024 ).

Personally, I’ve learned volumes from Eytan over the years we’ve worked together. He’s taught me so much, from how to navigate tough personalities in public meetings to the ecological nuances of the Zuni Mountains. I’m looking forward to the new creative, effective programs he builds in the years to come.

Mike Lynch, the Guild’s Lake States Director has been with the Guild since 2015. I first met Mike working on an analysis of how constraints on timber harvests affect forestry in Wisconsin. Right from the get-go, I realized Mike brought far more knowledge, experience, and hard work than his humble, easy going demeanor would suggest. A walk in the woods with Mike quickly reveals his keen eye for reading the landscape, and the experience to put his observations in context. During our study we hosted focus groups with loggers and foresters. Mike’s friendly midwestern manners put even those who prefer trees to people at ease. Over his tenure at the Guild, he has jumped into help with all sorts of projects from geospatial analysis to reviewing reports before publication.

Mike has also stepped up to lead by initiating important initiatives in the Lake States. Mike developed a project with Camp Ripley to bring prescribed fire training to local practitioners. He drew on Guild members and staff to put on engaging and effective training, which in turn led to an increase in good fire in the area (improving military training opportunities and increasing the safety of base neighbors). More recently, Mike has led the effort to connect the needs of songbirds with forest stewardship. The Minnesota Forestry for the Birds Guide is in high demand as a tool for engaging landowners and improving habitat. Along with project partners, Mike is leading a new effort to bring the same science-based approach to Wisconsin and Michigan.

I hope you’ll join me in celebrating two people who prove individuals can make a positive difference in the world.

New Mexico’s Final Collaborative Forest Restoration Project Comes to an End

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Rachel Bean with excerpts from La Jicarita’s “ Rio de Las Trampas Forest Council Wraps up Project: What’s Next? ” by Kay Matthews

Creation of the Collaborative Forest Restoration Project Program

In 2000, Congress passed the Community Forest Restoration Act to address conflicts over forest management after years of fire suppression and logging. This led to the creation of the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP) in New Mexico and provided federal funds through the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for collaborative science-based restoration projects to improve forest health and watershed conditions. This program provides a framework for community groups to collaborate and propose restoration projects on public or tribal forested land. Overarching program goals included wildfire threat reduction; ecosystem restoration, including non-native species reduction; reestablishment of historic fire regimes; reforestation; preservation of old and large trees; small diameter tree utilization; creation of forest-related local employment; and stakeholder diversity.

The nature of CFRP funding led to many innovative projects in forest types and communities which had not previously seen this type of ecologically based restoration, and the requirement for collaboration brought together environmental groups, community members, NGOs, and federal and state governments and agencies under a shared goal. In this way, the program jumpstarted the movement toward collaborative forestry which has continued to gain momentum through current day with the advent of the larger-scale multi-decadal Collaborative Forest and Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) and USFS Priority Landscapes. These and similar programs prioritize funding for collaborative forest, watershed, and grassland restoration projects across fencelines and jurisdictions (at a landscape scale) to reduce wildfire risk and improve ecosystem health. While there was some variation in CFRP projects’ efficacy in meeting these goals in different ecotypes and various treatments, it is generally considered a successful program. “Since 2001… the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program has made at least part-time allies of former foes in New Mexico’s environmental wars”( CaseBriefing_NM-CFRP ).

Community Forest Stewardship in Rural New Mexico

The final round of CFRP projects were selected in 2019 and awarded in 2021 (a delay caused by the global Coronavirus pandemic). The last active award – for which the Forest Stewards Guild was the funding recipient – wrapped up in early September 2025, sunsetting the program after nearly two and a half decades. The Rio de Las Trampas Forest Restoration Project, seated in the western foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico, began as a collaboration between the Forest Stewards Guild, Rio de Las Trampas Forest Council (run by a board of local community members), and the Camino Real Ranger District of Carson National Forest. It built on a local 1990s USFS Contract Stewardship program and subsequent 2018 pilot project which were intended to rebuild public trust in land management agencies and engage the community in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) forest restoration.

This restoration project recruited local leñeros, or woodcutters, to thin ponderosa pine and piñon-juniper forest on National Forest System lands, according to USFS silvicultural prescription standards for WUI fire risk reduction. Under this model, each leñero was assigned one acre to thin, remove larger diameter tree trunks and limbs, and lop and scatter the remaining slash to prepare the area for future prescribed burning. Upon completion of their acre, the leñeros were paid $300 and took home all the harvested wood for private firewood use or to sell. The entire project was overseen by Forest Mayordomo, or local leader, who decided which leñero would be assigned which acre, provided forest restoration training to the leñeros, and determined when an acre was thinned satisfactorily. These roles and titles correlate directly to local systems of governance which are common in these traditional communities ( https://searchlightnm.org/water-is-life/ ).

Over the life of the project, local leñeros were trained in Forest Worker Safety and First Aid, completed their cutting units and received payment, and supplied over 200 cords of wood to community members; three watershed protection and erosion control educational workshops were held in the project area; local youth were engaged through job fairs, ecological monitoring, and watershed restoration activities; and the silvicultural prescription goals were largely met with tree stand density decreasing 76% (from 284 to 68 trees per acre) and average canopy cover decreasing from 58% to 27% post-treatment. This leaves more of the forest floor exposed to sunlight and snowfall, potentially helping to bolster understory vegetation growth and aquifer recharge. An observed increase in average height from the ground surface to the lower canopy (lowest live branches on the trees) will also help prevent crown fires. As they thinned, leñeros focused on cutting small diameter, overcrowded, unhealthy trees.

Future of Community Forestry

A particularly positive outcome of this CFRP and the larger community forestry initiative is the impending implementation of another large-scale community-based management program. The Rio de Las Trampas Watershed Plan and implementation work are collaborative projects that address various land-based management concerns within the Rio de las Trampas watershed: forest restoration prescription design, erosion control/soil health projects, slash management, access to fuelwood and other wood products, maintenance of recreation infrastructure, and long-term monitoring. Key partners include the Forest Stewards Guild, Rio de Las Trampas Forest Council, USFS – Camino Real Ranger District, Taos County, and Taos Soil and Water Conservation District. This continuation of community forestry on public and private lands will build on the groundwork laid over the past 30 years, incorporating best available science for mesic forest restoration as well as community priorities and input. J.R. Logan, Taos County Forest and Watershed Health Program Manager, says “this is our opportunity to get creative, and to design project work that balances the needs and desires of community members as much as possible… It’s on our backs now, not the green [Forest Service].”

The Guild is honored to play a key facilitation role in this effort. Convening dedicated partners who each have unique and invaluable contributions in collaborative work across the U.S, is one way we support inspiring efforts toward our collective vision!

Putting our Principles into Practice: Reflections from the Northeastern Old Growth Conference

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written By Rachel Swanwick and Michelle Giles

This year’s Northeastern Old Growth Conference took place at the charming Bread Loaf Campus of Middlebury College in central Vermont. Old growth forest enthusiasts gathered for four days of engaging workshops, talks, and guided forest walks. Participants included land trusts, preservation advocates, authors, and stewardship-focused organizations like the Guild. The conference provided a forum for different viewpoints to engage deeply and unite under the theme: “Wildlands and Old-Growth Forests—A Vision for the Future.” The Guild’s Deputy Director, Eytan Krasilovsky, delivered his talk on Friday, September 19th titled “Stewardship of Old Forests & Trees in the Southwest: Approaches for Consideration in the Northeast”.

In the Northeast – where the even-aged forests of today reveal the land clearing of yesterday – it’s easy to believe that humans are the primary inhibitor of achieving a future with expansive old–growth forests. However, Eytan prompted the audience to zoom out from that lens, reminding the crowd that cutting trees accounts for just 1% of the impact on old-growth forests in the U.S. – while wildfires, insects, and diseases make up the remaining 99%. This perspective emphasizes the need to understand and protect forests from a broader range of threats.

Eytan illustrated one approach to achieve this by sharing insights from the Zuni Mountains Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) in central New Mexico, which employs forest thinning and prescribed fire treatments to protect and restore old–growth characteristics as part of broader forest restoration efforts. He also emphasized the importance of honoring Indigenous stewardship and knowledge holders in discussions and decisions surrounding old forests. This successful example of collaboration, convening, and management to sustain old–growth forests from advancing threats offers a valuable model for stewardship that can be applied in the Northeast.

Just across the hallway from Eytan, Guild members Jamey Fidel and Tim Duclos from Audubon Vermont shared how they developed their forest management proposal for the Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project (IRP) with another Guild member, Dr. Bill Keeton from the University of Vermont. Their approach aims at enhancing old forest conditions and old–growth conservation across 72,000 acres of Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest through ecological forestry practices. In their session, “Old Forests: Forest Stewards Guild Perspective and Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project as a Stewardship Example,” Jamey and Tim showcased how a balanced “triad approach” integrating timber management, restoration, and preservation—can serve as a powerful model for protecting and sustaining old-growth forests, both in the Green Mountain National Forest and across the country.

The Guild has continued to engage in discussions of old forests since its founding in 1995, making the conservation and stewardship of old forests one of our important long-term commitments. Most recently, in 2025, the Guild released a Position Statement on Stewardship of Old Forests and Trees , emphasizing the ecological, social, and cultural value of old-growth forests, while also highlighting how thoughtful forest management can accelerate the development of old forest characteristics. Presentations by Guild staff and members, along with many others at the Northeastern Old Growth Conference, exemplify the vital balance between preservation and stewardship of old-growth forests. They reflect our hope that constructive and meaningful dialogue around the future of old forests continues in the Northeast and beyond!

A Day in the Life of a Long-term Forest Monitoring Technician

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Daniel M. Semmel

My alarm rings out the sound of chiming bells at 6 in the morning, though I don’t need it as the birds have already started singing their sweet songs outside. The warm rays of the sun are beginning to creep through the blinds of my window, and I stir into awareness as my feet hit the cool floor. Summer mornings are colder here in northern Vermont than they are in my home in southern Connecticut.

I walk into the kitchen, where several of my housemates are already awake, and the rest will join us shortly. None of them are from Vermont either, but we have all traveled here for the summer to contribute to scientific research. The quiet kitchen buzzes to life with the aroma of brewing coffee and sizzling breakfast on the stove. The seven of us dance around each other to the music of clinking dishes, rustling field gear, and soft chatter as we prepare ourselves for the 10-hour field day ahead.

Heading out the front door, we all travel to the entrance of The Nulhegan Basin Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, but our field vehicles diverge as we head to separate projects. My research partner, Jonathan, and I are working here for the summer as seasonal employees of the Forest Stewards Guild under a partnership between the Guild and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We are the pioneering Forest Monitoring Technicians of the Northern Forest National Wildlife Refuge Stewardship Partnership – RSP for short – establishing and monumenting research plots in the first season of this multi-year project.

We travel the gravel forest roads in our trusty field vehicle, a white Ford Bronco Sport named Beatrice, but she goes by “Bea” for short. The map lying on our dashboard was created by a GIS (Geographical Information Systems) expert to ensure we collect a spatially random sample of the forest, which decreases bias and strengthens the analyses that will be created from our data. There is no path that leads us directly to where we need to go, so we get ourselves as close as we can using the forest’s road network. From there, we navigate through the less-traveled parts of the forest on foot.

Before becoming a part of the National Wildlife Refuge system, the land that makes up this forest was commercially clearcut for paper production, which has resulted in a lot of the forest containing young trees, all about the same age. Given time and proper management, these areas will grow back into mature forests with massive, looming trees and open space to walk between them. For right now, though, there are tightly packed young stems competing with each other to survive. This means dense bushwhacking and the constant threat of getting poked in the eye by low branches. Fortunately, we have safety glasses, long-sleeved shirts, and pants to protect us.

The sound of a thudding mallet marks our arrival at a plot as we monument its center with a stake of rebar and top it with a 4ft PVC pipe. To stand out against the greens and browns of the forest, the top portion of the PVC is painted orange. This practice will ensure that these long-term monitoring plots can be located and revisited every five-ten years by future technicians, who may experience a very different forest than we did this summer.

Collecting data in the same location across time shows how the conditions of the forest change in reaction to disturbances and climatic variations. Through repeat sampling, land managers will learn if tree species adapt in the face of change or are replaced by other species, if the growth rate of these trees is increasing or decreasing, if the diversity of understory plants changes in response to drought, and better understand what causes the health of trees to decline.

To collect our data, we immerse ourselves within the research plot: a small piece of the forest defined by three concentric circles stretching out from its center.

We scan the forest floor to determine how much is covered by understory vegetation and which species are present and dominant. Walking along 24-foot transects, we measure fallen trees and record them in the coarse woody debris column of our data sheet. We scurry around the forest floor, small plastic ruler in hand, to count the —sometimes hundreds— of tree seedlings within 12 feet of the plot center and categorize them into size classes. We also measure the diameter of the trees and assess factors like their current health and if they might be beneficial to wildlife. Do they have cavities for animals to nest in? Or peely or platey bark that birds can forage for insects in? Or large horizontal branches suitable for nest-building?

This is only some of the data we collect, as the research protocol attempts to capture the breadth of complexity found in a forest ecosystem. The spreadsheets and graphs created from the work done this summer function as a snapshot of the forest’s current state. Together with the work of future field technicians, a story of the forest and how it changes will develop. A story that will guide land management decisions and protect the prosperity of the Northern Forests.

Daniel Semmel is a University of Connecticut student studying Natural Resources and the Environment, as well as GIS (May ‘26). He spent this summer as a seasonal employee with the Guild. He enjoys hiking in the woods – without getting poked in the eye — and aspires to pursue conservation and research worldwide, making a positive impact on the environment.

Beauty in the Bog: A Natural History of Eastern Larch

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Jonathan Grabowski

From early June to late August, I worked on the Refuge Stewardship Partnership project with the Guild as a Forest Monitoring Technician. Most of my time was spent trudging through the bogs at the Nulhegan Basin of the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, installing 56 long-term forest monitoring plots. During my first day in the field, my tree identification skills were tested when the Refuge’s forester, Jeremy Goetz, asked me to identify an unusual-looking conifer.

I had just learned that red spruce has sharp needles and balsam fir has flat, “friendly to touch” needles, but this tree was different since the needles were short and felt spongy. This tree seemed familiar; however, I couldn’t think of where I’d seen it before. Then I remembered that I used to take care of a tree just like this!

I recalled spending ages watering this thirsty tree back when I was a student at Washington & Jefferson College, working as the Arboretum Technician. That’s when the name came to me: “This is an eastern larch, right?”

The eastern larch ( Larix laricina ), also known as tamarack, American larch, and hackmatack, is an extraordinary tree. Just like all the other trees in the Larix genus it is a conifer yet displays a characteristically deciduous trait. Its needles will change from a blueish green to a beautiful gold before the tree sheds them altogether in the fall.1-5

Eastern larch can be found in New England, the Great Lakes region, extending west to Minnesota, and is also present in Alaska and Canada. There are other native larches in North America, like western larch ( Larix occidentalis ) and subalpine larch ( Larix lyallii ), which can be found in the Pacific Northwest.

To identify an eastern larch, observe its unique needle arrangement and bark. The 1-inch-long needles stem from spur shoots along the branches in clusters of 20 to 50 and lack the waxy cuticle that is typically found on conifers. This is an evolutionary benefit for the eastern larch because it allows the tree to expend less energy on needle production. The bark is usually a reddish gray and may look flaky or scaly.

This tree species can grow to be 40 to 80 feet tall, comparable to a 4 to 8 story building, and is commonly found in wet, peaty soils like swamps and bogs. As a seedling, an eastern larch can be transplanted outside of wet areas since it can tolerate drier soils.1,3,4 It may also be found in old cemeteries because eastern larches were planted to represent death and rebirth prior to the Civil War Era.

At just fifteen years old, eastern larch trees can start producing cones. When young, these cones are about the size of a penny. As the season progresses and the seeds inside mature, the scales open and the cones flare out to about the size of a quarter. Larches appear top-heavy during good seed years and can be crowded with up to 20,000 cones. Seeds disperse from September to October, primarily by wind and to a lesser extent by red squirrels.

Of all the seeds that land on the ground, only about 4 to 5 percent will actually germinate and stand a chance of growing into new trees. Seeds that don’t germinate within a year are unlikely to ever grow—unlike some seeds that can stay dormant longer, these won’t survive long in the seed bank and are commonly preyed upon by mice and voles. With the right conditions—a moist but not waterlogged substrate like sphagnum moss and plenty of sunlight—eastern larch seedlings can grow surprisingly fast, reaching 7 to 9 inches in their first year.

Throughout history, the wood of the eastern larch has had many different uses because it is tough and highly rot resistant. The Algonquin, an Indigenous group from Canada and parts of New England, used the eastern larch’s inner bark for medicinal purposes. Cordage was made from the tree’s root string and used to sew birch bark canoes together. The common name ‘hackmatack’ comes from the Algonquin word for snowshoe, indicating the tree’s value in northern climes.

During the colonial era, white settlers used eastern larch wood as “knees” to join the deck timbers of ships and collected its squooshy needles to stuff pillows. Today, eastern larch is used for planking, railroad ties, fence posts, telephone poles, and in shipbuilding.

Jonathan Grabowski graduated from Washington Jefferson College with a degree in Environmental Science (class of ‘24). As a Forest Monitoring Technician with the Guild (summer of ‘25), he gained a deep appreciation for the larch trees and spongy sphagnum moss of Nulhegan, although the persistent deer flies left much to be desired.

Guild Member, Carl Struck, Hosts 30th Anniversary Celebration Event in New Mexico

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Daisy Smith and Carl Struck

Watch a short video from the day to see the forest walk, fungi, and Carl’s stewardship in action.

The tour began with introductions and Carl’s brief history of the property, offering some neat insight into how he came into possession of this land and his passion for stewardship. From there, the walk circled around the home of Carl and his wife, Johanne, with a pause at the chicken yard to examine some scrambled egg slime mold” fuligo septica a saprophytic decaying fungus growing out of a woodchip pile and another at the shed to admire the small chipper. The woodchipper is one of Carl’s most routinely used tools for management practices, allowing him to increase the “contact interface” between soil and woodchips and support soil microorganisms, such as mycelium.

As Carl led the group around the property, accompanied by his two dogs, the dedication and care he puts into the land was evident. Stops along the way highlighted a hand-constructed wildlife pond, old-growth ponderosas like “ Rosa” a “mother” tree , thinned patches of trees, puffball and lobster mushrooms, and even sightings of a small frog and a horned toad lizard. These were among many signs of the biodiversity and range of tree growth on the property. We also toured neighboring properties with different management styles/goals, including several plots with very dense, unhealthy stands having never been managed since the old-growth Ponderosa was logged over 100 years ago.

The day ended with a sandwich lunch together around Carl’s hand-made bocce ball court. Brief closing remarks were heard from Carl and the Guild’s executive director, Zander Evans. Attendees had a chance to reflect on something they had learned or simply share their appreciation for the woods. Guests were also invited to take a foraged lobster mushroom or two home for dinner, a tangible reminder of the gathering and resilience of forests, cared for by dedicated stewards like Carl Struck and his family.

A sincere thank you to Carl and the other guild members who have hosted our 30 th anniversary events this year. And thank you to all the community members, staff, partners and others who have joined in and shared your curiosities, stories, and knowledge. These gatherings are meaningful, thanks to participation and support on all levels, helping to carry the Guild forward in its mission of forging a healthy future for people and forests.

At the end of July, member Carl Struck graciously hosted a Guild Gathering at his 40-acre property in Peñasco, New Mexico, to celebrate 30 years of the Forest Stewards Guild. This was one of three commemorative events of the year so far. A diverse group of about 20, with folks from the Forest Stewards Youth Corps crews, Tesuque Pueblo, Guild staff, and Guild members met at the family forest for a walking field trip to explore forest management examples and mycorrhizal networks that are crucial for forest health.

Towards the end of the walk, Carl’s neighbor joined the conversation with his perspective on how thinning and management for private landowners can be a daunting task. The group discussed best practices as well as the limited resources and options available for landowners trying to maintain healthy forests.

Meet Andreas Wion, Forest and Fire Science Manager

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Andreas Wion

To this end, I took jobs working for the federal government in the years between undergrad in Boulder and graduate school in Fort Collins. I worked as a Forest Service botanist in central Utah, built databases for the Food and Drug Administration in Maryland, and was an archaeologist in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I later enrolled in a graduate degree program in Ecology at Colorado State University, where I studied with Dr. Miranda Redmond in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship.

My research focused on masting – a phenomenon in which trees produce large seed crops in some years and no seeds in others. My dissertation aimed to answer a simple question: Why do trees mast? The reasoning being – if we can understand why trees mast, we should be able to predict where and when they will produce seeds. Although this seems like an obscure question, it bears greatly on our ability to manage forests. Forest regeneration depends on seeds – both natural regeneration and planted seedlings; it also affects wildlife communities and the diseases they carry, like Lyme’s disease and Hantavirus.

After grad school, I was a research fellow at the New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, where I learned how to read and interpret the stories that trees tell through their rings: droughts, fires, floods, and frost. I worked closely with Bandelier National Monument, co-producing actionable science that spanned tree die-off to type conversion to aerial seeding and fire modeling. Through it all, I’ve been asking myself – how do we best steward forests in an increasingly hotter world with larger, more frequent, and severe fires?

I don’t have a great answer for this question – but its what I will be working on at the Guild. I will support monitoring efforts across the Guild, particularly within the Rio Chama CFLRP, to develop scientific insights that I hope will move the needle on this question. I also hope to provide science support for various projects within the Guild – one of them being the Accelerating Science to Action Partnership (ASAP). Working with folks within the 232 Collaborative Landscape, I hope I can bridge the gap between science, management, and action. To this end, I would encourage you to reach out to me with any questions you might have about forest and fire science. Guild member or not – land manager or private homeowner – however you are reading this right now. Look me up and let’s talk about forest resilience. I hope to hear from you, and thanks for reading.

Andreas Wion

Forest and Fire Science Manager

I grew up on the outskirts of El Paso County, Colorado, along the foot of the Front Range. I spent a lot of time in my childhood hiking the empty quarters of the Air Force Academy. This was technically a felony trespass, but I think the statute of limitations has passed. I remember getting excited whenever I found bones or antlers hidden in the scrub oak. In 2012, this area burned at a high severity in the Waldo Canyon Fire, along with over 350 homes. That was when I first understood how important forest stewardship is, and how it can directly impact people’s lives and livelihoods.

Meet Ami Kane, Chief Development Officer

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

As long as I can remember, I’ve loved nature—especially trees. As Chief Development Officer, I am thrilled to bring my passion for philanthropy to the Guild’s critical mission to forge a healthy future for people and forests . Embarking on this new professional journey grants me an opportunity to reflect!

Twenty years ago, I was an inspired college student looking for a volunteer project to do with friends in my hometown, Indianapolis, IN. Over the course of the following year, we planted over 100 trees. I didn’t know it at the time, but one of the pictures taken of me and my friend Femi was featured on a pamphlet used by the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office. I love that a friend sent me a copy a few years later, which captured that work in motion!

Shortly after that photo was taken, I found an internship that rolled into a part-time job with Girls Inc. The professional path of servant-leadership forever captured my heart. After I graduated, I was inspired to pursue my Master of Public Affairs in Nonprofit Management from Indiana University. There, I was afforded a fellowship, and I got to cross-train at the Lilly School for Philanthropy, where I studied fundraising, nonprofit administration, and best practices in developing and maintaining donor relationships.

After I graduated that program, I worked briefly full-time for Girls Inc. until, in 2009, my partner and I relocated to make a new life in Austin, Texas, where we have thrived since. We moved primarily for my partner’s independent filmmaking career, but I also quickly found a new professional home at a local girls’ agency, Girls Empowerment Network (GEN), where I was on staff for the following 15 years, first in direct service, then fundraising, and eventually becoming CEO. While I had formally studied philanthropy, it wasn’t until 2013 at GEN that I got to put my education into practice. It became my truest professional passion—connecting inspired, values-aligned donors with work that transforms communities.

Earlier this year, I began feeling my heart call me back into fundraising. Most of all, I realized that it was time for me to find inspiration and excitement for an entirely new mission and something in conservation was at the top of my wish-list. When I saw the job posting for the role I now occupy, I was blown away by the Guild and deeply wanted to be a part of their work.

I’m so excited to get started and my biggest eagerness is to meet YOU, the people who support this agency as members, donors, advocates, volunteers, and stewards. I know that together, we can build an even bigger movement and, ultimately, expand our positive collective impact on forests. Keep an eye out for more coming soon. For now, I will end with this: THANK YOU. We truly couldn’t do it without you!

Written by Ami Kane

Setting the Agenda for the Forest Sector

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Unfortunately, some things haven’t changed as much as one might hope since 1996. The divide between ‘industry’ and ‘environmentalists’ (to use stereotypical labels) remains, even if it is less stark than it was 30 years ago. The 7 th Congress came on the heels of the 1995 Salvage Rider , which had reignited the timber wars in the Pacific Northwest. Decades later, many mills have retooled to process the small logs produced from the restoration of fire-adapted forests (though, to be fair, even fewer old forests remain). In part because of the Guild and like-minded partners, ecological forestry and stewardship based on reciprocity between people and forests is more common, and even the standard of practice in some areas of the country.

1) Braid Indigenous knowledge with Western science;
2) Conserve ecologically critical forests; and
3) Embed robust, adaptive stewardship”

Perhaps most important for the Guild, the overlap of the Congress Resolutions with the Guild’s principles and policy gives us important momentum. I can’t help but feel that the fortuitous alignment of the Guild’s 30th anniversary and the resolutions of the Congress gives us a tremendous opportunity to expand the Guild’s positive impact.

The 9th American Forest Congress built on the 7th and 8th Congresses and created a historic gathering of 500 leaders in our field. It was great to see so many Guild members and partner organizations at the Congress. We were well represented at the Congress with Guild members, board, and staff engaged in every facet of the Congress. In fact, the Congress was a demonstration that the Guild is embracing the leadership role we have earned in advancing the culture of forest stewardship. During the 7th Congress in 1996, the Guild was a brand new organization, still forming our principles and policy position. Now, three decades later, members’ work across the country demonstrates that it’s possible to make a career practicing Aldo Leopold’s land ethic in the woods. The Guild’s policy statements presage many of the resolutions the Congress produced (as discussed below).

While political issues like the Salvage Rider were front and center in the 7th Congress, the controversies that have dominated 2025 received surprisingly little attention on the main stage. Plenary sessions didn’t focus on the sale of federal lands, consolidation of federal fire management, defunding of research, rescission of the roadless rule, or dramatic reductions in the federal workforce. The dramatic and rapid changes in federal investments in forest stewardship were mainly dealt with in subtext and side conversations. The effort to remain non-partisan (and perhaps the fear of retribution) kept direct debate over the current administration’s policies off the main stage. However, it should be noted that the Congress Resolutions did include a positive statement on the importance of federal land management, resolving that “federal public forests managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are integral to America’s wellbeing and natural heritage, and are governed by unique and critical mandates.”

The Congress Principles and Resolutions include a broad range of issues from the importance of expanding the workforce to the need for the “development and widespread implementation of rigorous, climate-informed forest stewardship.” One of the most widely supported resolutions focused on beneficial fire and is well-aligned with the recent Guild Policy Statement on Fire, Forest Management, and Communities . Another called for communication efforts to “advance public understanding of the benefits forests provide, and of the essential roles of active forest management and forest conservation in maintaining these benefits.” The statement on old-growth forests also matches Guild policy by calling for “conservation and stewardship practices that prioritize ecological integrity” to maintain and increase the abundance old forests. Many Guild members helped craft the resolution that pointed to ecological integrity as a north star for stewardship: “conserving biodiversity and ecological integrity should be a management priority for America’s federal forests, and to call for science-based, climate-responsive policies and management actions that:

Founding Guild Member Hosts 30th Anniversary Celebration in Maine

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Logan Johnson and Barrie Brusila

The woodlot tour traversed a maintained field, mature stands, and recently harvested areas, with discussions centered on forest health, harvest design, skid trail layout, silviculture, wood markets/economics, and land use history. One of the interesting takeaways was how Barrie, as a forester, works with her family of non-foresters to make management decisions about the woodlot. She upholds her ethics to ensure she meets her entire family’s objectives.

Presenters at this event included Laura Kenefic (Supervisory Research Forester, Team Leader, US Forest Service), Nicole Rogers (Landowner Outreach Forester, Maine Forest Service), Gabe LeMay (Entomologist, Maine Forest Service), and Joe Wiley (Wildlife Biologist, retired).

Barrie said, “It was an honor for me to host such a knowledgeable and enjoyable group of people. I’m grateful for being able to steward such a lovely family property. It’s my happy place.”

A very special thank you to Guild member event hosts, like Barrie. Thank you to all who attend Guild Gatherings and share your questions and expertise. It is with your support that the Guild fulfills our mission to forge a healthy future for people and forests!

The Guild’s community of dedicated forest stewards sets it apart from others. In June, Founding Member, Barrie Brusila, hosted a Guild Gathering at her family’s woodlot in Warren, Maine, to celebrate 30 years of the Forest Stewards Guild. From semi-retired foresters to young professionals, the group met at her family’s home for the well-known pastime of the Guild Introduction Circle, for everyone to get a chance to learn about each other, before embarking on a walk in the woods together.

After the tour, the group reassembled at the house for a delightful dinner and camaraderie, including the other Guild Gathering pastime, a game of catch. Members like Barrie, with their passion, knowledge, and dedication, are the heart and soul of the Guild. They create a welcoming environment for all to learn, appreciate the woods, and be part of a community that has put the forest first since 1995.

Why a wildfire detection camera for Santa Fe?

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Eytan Krasilovsky

I’ve been asking myself the same question for a year. In my work at the Guild, we focus a lot on wildfire. We have programs dedicated to training the future wildland fire workforce ( Forest Stewards Youth Corps ), making communities more resilient to wildfire ( Fire Adapted Communities New Mexico ), and practicing and promoting prescribed fire as a critical tool in making our forests and watersheds more ready for wildfire ( All Hands All Lands Burn Network. We also lead collaborative initiatives with similar goals (Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition , Zuni Mountains Collaborative , the 2-3-2 Partnership ). What the Guild doesn’t do is wildfire response and suppression.

So why an AI wildfire detection camera?

First, I must thank a colleague, Dr. Jonathan Frenzen. Jonathan donates a lot of his time to the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition (the Coalition) and is an active member who is also a co-chair of the Communications Committee. Through many conversations and texts in 2024, Jonathan and I discussed how:

New Mexico was unprepared to respond to the wrong wildfire ignition in the wrong location under critical conditions. Fires like the 2011 Las Conchas fire spread across 40,000 acres during its first day, while the 2020 Medio Fire threatened Tribal lands and Ski Santa Fe but took over a day to locate due to its remote location.
Other Western states like California have had a network of over 1,200 cameras for many years, and New Mexico deserves access to the latest technology and tools.

Artificial intelligence-enabled wildfire detection cameras not only help with wildfire detection and geolocation, but they also provide enhanced situational awareness that support wildfire management decisions and improve safety. Anytime we have wildland firefighters driving, hiking, and doing suppression activities, they Upper Santa Fe Lake, source for 40% of Santa Fe’s water encounter numerous hazards. If this technology can increase firefighters’ and public safety, it’s worth it.
Camera networks that allow public access and viewing of wildfires and prescribed fires increase public understanding and awareness of wildfire, wildfire management, and prescribed fire. In my work at the Guild, we regularly take interested public, elected officials, and others out to see our forestry and prescribed fire treatments in-action. If a livestreamed camera can do something similar from the convenience of one’s phone, it will help elevate understanding of our work.
The Santa Fe Municipal Watershed provides 40% of the City’s water supply while also being its cheapest and cleanest source. The upper watershed remains hidden from view, yet is critical to delivering clean water. The camera location on Tesuque Peak now provides a view into the upper watershed.

From these conversations and our rationale in hand, we secured funding from the Santa Fe Community Foundation and the Santa Fe – Pojoaque Soil and Water Conservation District to fund a camera pilot to be up and running for 1-year. Through Jonathan’s extensive research and dogged persistence, we began purchasing equipment based on a system Jonathan designed, discussions with AlertWest for their software services, and working with the company that owns the towers on Tesuque Peak. Tesuque Peak was chosen due to its geographic location, its access to power, the secure building to house the equipment, and its access via the gated Aspen Vista dirt road.

After several visits to the peak, towers were climbed, wires were patched and re-patched, gear was fortified for serious weather at 12,000’ elevation, systems were tested and adjusted, and the camera was operational mid-July 2025! https://alertwest.live/cam-console/16754

During the first week, the AI system locked onto the Laguna Fire over 60 miles away telling us the technology was working! The next step was coordinating training sessions with local and federal wildfire response agencies to learn how to use the system and set up automated alerts. The training and integration into existing emergency response systems remains an ongoing task. Jonathan and I were excited to see the Santa Fe Interagency Dispatch Center panning and tilting the camera after a thunder cell moved over the landscape, looking for any lightning hit trees in the upper municipal watershed.

Moving forward, we need more time to learn and integrate this technology into the landscape. Jonathan and I also want to see further piloting of this technology in New Mexico, particularly in areas less affluent than Santa Fe. We’d also like to see multiple cameras that have overlapping viewshed areas since this increases network functionality and effectiveness. While the Guild is not responding to wildfires, we are piloting and testing tools to assist wildland fire management and help us all live better with fire.

International Knowledge Exchange: Talking Fire with a Delegation from Brazil

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Rachel Bean

Managing wildfires and the landscapes through which they burn is a complex job that spans jurisdictions, geographic boundaries, and timeframes (preparing before, managing during, and recovering after the fire). In the U.S., wildfire management requires that many different federal and state agencies, Tribes, and others agree on a cohesive approach, or strategy, for each fire. This is called “integrated fire management”, and it ensures that these various partners are communicating and working together toward a common goal during a wildfire, or “incident”. Within this structure, all entities work under one unified central command and pool resources during fire suppression activities. However, integrated fire management expands far beyond suppression; partners in fire also need to coordinate on forest restoration activities and community preparation to reduce wildfire risk before a fire happens, and on watershed and water infrastructure protection, reforestation, and community recovery after a fire has burned. Fire and natural resources managers in the United States have been using and improving integrated fire management for over 100 years.

In May 2025, the Guild welcomed a delegation of ten wildfire leaders from various Brazilian states to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to discuss and share lessons learned about integrated fire management. Global Ties Albuquerque coordinated the international visit to connect the delegates with ten different organizations representing expertise in various aspects of fire prevention, suppression, and recovery. In Brazil, fire activity and behavior have escalated due to a warming climate, conversion of forest to agricultural land, and an increase in ignitions from agricultural burning, among other factors. Fire management is handled at the state level and lacks the robust multi-layered approach frequently found in the U.S.; it is also especially lacking in local capacity from municipal or volunteer fire departments. As a result, these state fire agencies may not have the resources to invest in fire prevention and community education, preparedness, and safety. The team of fire leaders from Brazil traveled to the Southwestern U.S. to explore wildfire management and prevention strategies at both regional and local levels with the goal of returning home better prepared to leverage the resources and capacity that they do have to improve forest health, foster fire-adapted communities, and strengthen the interface between institutions and the people they serve.

Guild staff Eytan Krasilovsky, Deputy Director, and Rachel Bean, Project Manager, spent an afternoon with the delegation in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains talking about Fire Adapted Communities, the National Wildland Fire Cohesive Management Strategy, and an all-hands all-lands approach to prescribed fire. After some presentation time at the Guild office in Santa Fe, the group made the short drive to the Santa Fe foothills where they walked through high-risk communities, discussed the nuances of defensible space, and looked at adjacent forest treatments on public lands. In the process, Guild staff learned a lot about the unique fire challenges facing Brazil’s diverse ecosystems and communities and discussed how lessons learned in North America might translate to our neighbors to the south. Fire Adapted Communities (FAC), a grassroots

preparedness concept

which gained prominence in the 2010s and has emerged as a pillar of a holistic approach to fire readiness, was of particular interest to the delegation. FAC can be right-sized and adapted to a given Brazilian state or community, tailoring the educational materials and outreach strategies while maintaining the basic framework (elements required and actions that can be taken to become adapted to fire). FAC recognizes that fire is a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’ and empowers community members to work with their land and their neighbors to reduce the likelihood of a catastrophic fire – a concept that is relevant regardless of geography.

The Guild regularly shares FAC lessons and resources across the U.S. and this visit with the delegation was a great opportunity to share these concepts and tools with – and benefit from the experiences and knowledge of – our global colleagues.

From Leopold to Today: A Legacy of Conservation in the Upper Rio Grande

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Christi Bode, Southwest Project Coordinator

TRES PIEDRAS, NM

New approaches often defy the status quo.

Henry Carey, also a conservationist, arrived in Santa Fe some 70 years later and had forward-thinking ideas for the surrounding landscape. He longed to honor intrinsic values that weren’t represented within institutionalized land management. In the 1980s and ‘90s, forestry was focused on commodities while community and conservation values faded to the background. Carey founded the Forest Trust in 1984 to help landowners conserve their properties and utilize sustainable forestry practices informed by place-based knowledge. He recognized that forests defined cultures in rural communities across northern New Mexico. Private lands stewardship served as the foundation for the grander vision of the Forest Stewards Guild, which he co-founded a decade later.

A land trust or land conservancy is a community-based, nonprofit organization dedicated to permanently protecting land. Individual acts of conservation, like placing a farm or ranch under a conservation easement, amount to hundreds of thousands of acres protected across the entirety of a watershed. Private parcels adjacent to public lands connect wildlife corridors and sometimes come with an opportunity to improve land health on both sides of the fence. These places help safeguard water supplies, providing public benefit well beyond the property line. Land trusts are uniquely positioned to offer locally driven, lasting solutions that support families, rural economies, and future generations.

As a Southwest Guild employee, I think a lot about what landscape-scale impact looks like across millions of acres. Looming problems – like climate change, declining forest health and habitat degradation – reveal the need to protect larger, strategic areas that can influence systemic change. A healthy Rio Grande watershed equals the sum of all its parts, and private lands are a big piece of the puzzle: for wildlife, for rural communities, and especially for water. The region’s subsistence, spanning from the flood-irrigated meadows near Creede to the acequia-fed lands in the Sangre de Cristo foothills, is dependent on the Rio Grande and its tributaries. Any long-lasting solutions have to include landowners when thinking about sustaining an entire system.

Altogether, there’s six land trusts working throughout the Rio Grande Basin in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico: Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust, Colorado Open Lands, Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, Taos Land Trust, Santa Fe Conservation Trust and the New Mexico Land Conservancy. Conversations over time with each organization deepened my understanding of the communities served and the obstacles encountered. Putting them all together in a room with well-fed bellies felt like the next obvious step.

The Land Trust Idea Exchange stemmed from the desire to create linkages across state lines and breakdown silos of competition. The Exchange fosters connectivity among place-based organizations throughout the Upper Rio Grande Basin who understand private lands conservation best.

On this late April day, less than a week after Carey’s passing, I waited on the steps of Mi Casita – also known as the Aldo Leopold House – in anticipation of my group’s arrival. The Leopold House, located in Tres Piedras, New Mexico, happened to be a central gathering place for partners along the Rio Grande. The significance of what was about to unfold in between these wooden beams – beams that have heard five lifetimes worth of chatter and ideas around conservation, felt like a full circle moment.

First, we introduced ourselves as people. We learned the landscape drew us in for different reasons, but we chose to stay for a mutual commitment to place. The morning was dedicated to getting to know each other’s organizations and the various conservation efforts taking place across the watershed. A joint vision and mutual priorities quickly became apparent.

A rich cultural heritage and strong agricultural tradition shape landscapes across Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, which is reflected in the ways land trusts serve their communities. While conservation easements are most known for safeguarding land and water from development, land trusts utilize this tool in non-traditional ways.

For some land trusts, protecting open spaces within proximity of urban centers is important for public access and fostering connection with the surrounding environment.

Community engagement is fundamental to all the work that these land trusts do – from educational youth programming and land restoration workshops, to building relationships with local landowners and partners that help advance conservation efforts.

After a generous lunch portion of enchiladas and green chile and piñon apple pie (a Chili Line Depot classic), participants dug a bit deeper. What does it mean to think like a watershed, when working with a checkerboard of private parcels across the landscape? Investing time and energy into building connections with neighbors across state lines is step one.

“We share a lot culturally with Northern New Mexico and sometimes even more than with other parts of Colorado. There was a real sense of camaraderie and shared purpose that made the conversations feel both familiar and energizing,” said Jocelyn Catterson, Community Engagement Director of the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust.

Participants expressed a strong desire to keep the momentum of the day going and explore what a Rio Grande Land Trust cohort could look like: in-person events, site visits, knowledge sharing and more importantly, a unified space to work through ideas, challenges and solutions together. The next phase of the Land Trust Idea Exchange is anticipated for late Fall/Winter 2025.

Land conservation, including the protection and stewardship of private lands, is essential for preserving the vital functions of the Southwest’s forests and rivers. Sustaining a healthy Rio Grande watershed hinges on the combined conservation efforts of these land trusts and the landowners they support.

From the east-facing front porch, I take in a sweeping view of the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Somewhere in between the peel-log posts and jagged horizon lies the Rio Grande Gorge, a deep chasm sculpted by the interplay of geology and water. I imagine Aldo Leopold, a newly appointed supervisor of the Carson National Forest at the time, stood in this same spot in 1912, envisioning what the future of land conservation could look like: co-managing natural and human ecosystems as one.

Despite modernization in today’s agricultural economy, acequias continue to be the social glue that holds together rural communities in this region. Acequias are community-governed, hand-built ditches dating back to the Pueblo Indians, who used a similar system of irrigation, which was later adopted by the Spanish upon their arrival over 400 years ago. Some organizations are working with acequia communities to protect cultural traditions, local food access and the ecological function that these unique systems provide.

Red Hills Tour Report

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Esme Cadiente

In May 2025, the Forest Stewards Guild gathered a group of forest and conservation professionals at Tall Timbers Research Station in the Red Hills region of Florida and Georgia to explore fire-adapted forest management practices, biodiversity conservation, and the legacy of private land stewardship. Hosted by Dr. Morgan Varner and the team at Tall Timbers, the tour featured three distinct ecological sites—each illustrating different relationships between fire, forest structure, and species diversity.

Key themes

Fire as Maintenance

A key theme echoed throughout the tour was that prescribed fire in these systems doesn’t reset succession—it maintains a stable, open condition. As Dr. Varner described, “It’s like mowing the grass”—removing just the top layer of vegetation to preserve the system’s structure. Frequent, low-intensity fire helps maintain high groundcover diversity, allows for natural regeneration across all age classes, and sustains what is better understood as a climax-like state, rather than a successional transition.

This was especially evident in pine–oak–hickory systems where even very old sand post oaks and chinquapins persist amid younger pine. The result is a structurally complete stand—with seedlings, saplings, poles, and century-old trees—offering excellent habitat for both plant and animal species.

Continuous Fire History

Unlike many Southeastern forests, Tall Timbers and nearby private lands have never experienced a fire exclusion period. Fire-scarred tree rings show regular burns extending back into the 1800s and likely further, with Indigenous fire practices and natural lightning ignitions playing a foundational role. Because of this, native plant communities and dependent species have persisted without interruption, and restoration efforts haven’t had to undo decades of degradation from fire suppression.

Public Support: Fire for Quail

The region’s social license to burn is bolstered by a long-standing quail hunting tradition. Fire is deeply embedded in the land ethic of Red Hills landowners, who understand that prescribed burning creates ideal conditions for bobwhite quail. This alignment between conservation and recreation helps sustain a community-supported fire culture, enabling frequent burning across tens of thousands of acres with broad public and private support.

Tour Stops

Scrub Course: Mature Shortleaf Pine–Oak–Hickory Woodland

Lead staff: Dr. Kevin Robertson – Fire Ecology Research Scientist, Dr. Morgan Varner – Director of Research & Senior Scientist

The Scrub Course is a remnant shortleaf pine–oak–hickory ecosystem, a plant community that once covered large portions of the Red Hills. It’s characterized by an open canopy of shortleaf pine and upland fire-loving hardwoods such as mockernut hickory, post oak, southern red oak, white oak, and black oak. Although often overshadowed by the more widely known longleaf–wiregrass system, the shortleaf community shares many of the same ecological traits, including highly flammable needle cast that supports frequent fire.

This site also supports one of the highest concentrations of gopher tortoise and fox squirrel on the property, reinforcing its ecological value. Shortleaf pine is uniquely adapted to fire, with the ability to resprout from the crown, branches, and base.

Shortleaf pine is a declining species across its native range, which stretches from New Jersey to the Ozarks and barely reaches into Florida. Once dismissed as an “old field” species, it’s now being re-evaluated for its broad ecological flexibility, fire adaptations, and potential value as a timber species that can replace less fire-tolerant pines like loblolly.

Tall Timbers’ research aims to identify how to manage existing shortleaf on fire-maintained lands without resorting to planting. Upcoming work includes testing various fire intervals in research plots to see which treatments best support growth while maintaining shrubby understory for wildlife. The hope is that natural regeneration can sustain these stands.

Woodyard Hammock: Old Growth American Beech–Southern Magnolia Forest

Lead staff: Kate Richardson – Ornithologist, Dr. Morgan Varner – Director of Research

This mature fire-excluded hardwood hammock contrasts sharply with the fire-maintained pine systems elsewhere on the property. The canopy includes American beech, southern magnolia, American holly, spruce pine, and hophornbeam, creating dense shade and a moist microclimate. The site offered a platform for discussing ecological succession, species composition shifts, and non-native species management.

Hardwoods such as oak, hickory, and sweetgum offer important habitat but can become problematic in quail-focused uplands. Without active management—fire, mechanical thinning, or selective herbicide—these species outcompete grasses and forbs and shelter quail predators. Tall Timbers confronted this issue in the late 1990s, when widespread hardwood encroachment prompted a large-scale removal effort.

The results were dramatic: prescribed fire became more effective, native grasses rebounded, and bobwhite quail populations increased tenfold over three years. Still, not every hardwood should be removed. Management must strike a balance between multiple objectives, recognizing that some hardwoods support species like wild turkey. The Woodyard Hammock exemplifies the tradeoffs in hardwood management, especially when conserving mature forest structure for biodiversity.

Wade Tract: Old Growth Longleaf Pine–Wiregrass Savannah

Lead staff: Kim Sash – Wildlife Biologist, Kate Richardson, Dr. Morgan Varner

The Wade Tract is a globally rare remnant of old-growth longleaf pine–wiregrass savannah, where frequent fire and historical continuity have preserved extraordinary groundcover diversity and a centuries-old pine overstory. The site provides critical habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers, gopher tortoises, and a wide range of avian and small home-range species.

Maintaining this system requires careful attention to overstory basal area. When basal area drops below 20 ft²/acre, pine needle cast declines, limiting the fuels necessary to carry prescribed fire. Without sufficient needles, moist southern grasses alone are not enough to achieve complete burns during the limited seasonal window available.

Low basal area stands are also more vulnerable to wind and lightning and may fail to regenerate naturally. Conversely, maintaining moderate basal area supports both regeneration and quail hunting objectives by sustaining fine fuels and partial shade. Regeneration is critical as stands age and overstory trees begin to die off. Some landowners now favor uneven-aged management, transitioning former plantations to more diverse, structurally complex stands through selective thinning and random planting of appropriate species.

This kind of stand structure mimics historic pine forests, supports diverse wildlife, and may even offer financial incentives through conservation easements or selective timber harvests. The Wade Tract is a flagship example of how private land conservation and fire ecology intersect to maintain one of the Southeast’s most iconic and endangered ecosystems.

The tour in the Red Hills region underscored the power of long-term fire management, forest stewardship, and strategic conservation. In the Red Hills, the alignment of ecological science, landowner tradition, and community values has produced a thriving, resilient landscape—one that holds vital lessons for fire-adapted forest management across the Southeast and in other forests.

Slow Wood

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Brian Donahue

We built the house in 2011, and I chipped away at the book for years, while teaching, running the farm, and writing other things. I did not foresee how difficult the world would become by the time the book finally appeared. Maybe I should have.

I started working in the woods half a century ago, cutting firewood and timber for a suburban community farm and forest organization I helped get started during the energy crisis of the 1970s. I wrote about those adventures in another book called Reclaiming the Commons . At the time, many of us believed that the world was running out of oil and would soon encounter hard limits to growth, and that we would be forced to rely on local sources for more of our food and wood, like it or not.

Well, it didn’t turn out that way, and instead, we have seen an enormous surge in fossil fuel combustion, globalized resource extraction, and waste dumping, doing damage to ecosystems and homelands around the world. Imposing meaningful limits upon ourselves in any equitable and sustainable way is proving extremely difficult. Slow Wood is a cheerful book because increased reliance on responsibly produced local and regional wood is not a hardship, but a joy. Using more local food and wood is still an important part of any solution to our grinding crisis of planetary degradation, however partial and tardy, as well as a means to build community and constituency. What more can I say? I am not by nature an optimistic person; just a hopeful one.

We built a timber-frame house with wood drawn from a low-grade thinning of a hundred-year-old mixed hardwood and softwood stand, typical for central Massachusetts. Lincoln Fish was our forester, Ed Klaus did the logging, Dave Bowman and Neil Godden were our framers. The best quality red oak and white pine stayed in the woods, lower-quality oak and pine made up the bulk of the timber sale (along with lots of firewood), and we built primarily with hemlock and black birch. The lowest of the low-grade, according to the market—but these woods are strong and beautiful!

We used hemlock for the frame, but also hemlock two-bys for subflooring (ceilings) and one-bys for board-and-batten doors—the byproducts of sawing the beams. We used birch for flooring, trim, and kitchen cabinets. I cut a few crooked black cherries that provided curved frame braces, along with porch posts, windowsills, and stair risers. I thinned some suppressed sugar maples for loft ladders and stair treads.

In the book, I use these trees—hemlock, cherry, birch, and maple—to provide the narrative thread for managing the forest and building the house. In addition, I use them to tell the story of the changing relationship between Americans and their forests over the past few centuries—basically, the loss of local connection, the rise of industrial extraction, and the ongoing struggle of conservation and stewardship to make a real difference. In the conclusion, I make the case for returning to a local and regional approach to providing most (not all) of our wood. Here I draw on the research we did for Beyond the Illusion of Preservation , led by Caitlin Littlefield and a fine crew of foresters and ecologists known well to the Forest Stewards Guild.

Members of the Guild won’t learn much you don’t already know from Slow Wood —though I hope you will enjoy it, and now and then nod along in agreement. I didn’t write it primarily for you. I wrote it for a broad environmental audience whose first instinct is never to cut trees but just let them grow. If we didn’t need wood, I might agree. But we do need wood, and I want to show as vividly as possible that we can get that wood while supporting other ecological and social values and creating beauty in the world.

I am not trying to convince anyone that forests intrinsically need to be managed. As co-author of Wildlands and Woodlands , I am all for extensive untrammeled wild places. I am trying to convince my fellow environmentalists that because we need wood, the forests that provide that wood need to be managed better than is generally now the case. Slow Wood is designed as a tool to help us get that simple message across, while navigating the rip tides that Guild members know only too well: misguided antipathy to all cutting on the one hand, and the rigors of competing with industrial extraction on the other.

I’d be grateful for any opportunity to help communicate this hopeful message: we can meet our wood needs and still do well by our forests. And I am sorry that Slow Wood appears at a time when so many Guild members who have made this their life’s work, or who want to, are suffering such cruel setbacks. Don’t give up the fight. We need you.

Slow Wood is a cheerful book in troubled times.

The book was always meant to be cheerful. It’s about building a timber-frame house from our farm woodlot—a “worst first” house—and more broadly, about building with local wood as a way of advancing ecological forestry. Beautiful houses should come from beautiful forests: a hopeful message.

I use the term “slow wood” as an analogy to slow food and as shorthand for ecological forestry, with its long rotations, restrained cutting, and legacy trees that mimic natural rhythms and structure. I also use it to mean houses that are similarly built to last, using local and regional wood where it makes sense . Done strategically, this adds negligible incremental costs to everything else involved in home construction but generates immeasurable benefits for rural communities.

Again, you know all this. What I need from you—other than giving the book to as many people as you can think of who don’t yet see this bigger picture—is to help me find my audience. I can give reasonably entertaining talks for woodland owner associations, college courses, environmental groups, land trusts, garden clubs, you name it. I have lots of nice pictures of trees being cut down and a house being built from them, and a compelling argument that this is a good thing.

Empowering the Resilient Community of WNC through Chainsaw Safety and Wildfire Preparedness: Guild Workshops Build Skills, Confidence, and Community Connections in Western NC

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Mackenzie Alexander

In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastating impact on Western North Carolina in September 2024, the Forest Stewards Guild stepped in to support community resilience by offering hands-on training in chainsaw safety and wildfire home protection. This past spring, the Guild hosted three beginner-level chainsaw workshops that blended technical instruction with community-building and empowerment.

The workshops were held in Boone, Creston, and Marshall in Western North Carolina. In Creston, the Guild partnered with Rebuild Hope, the Creston Volunteer Fire Department, NC State University Extension, and the Skills Academy for Women (SAW) to train twenty-three local landowners, most of whom were directly affected by storm damage. Participants rotated through stations focused on equipment safety and wildfire preparedness, which included how to assess fire risk around homes and properties impacted by downed trees and debris.

The Guild again collaborated with SAW in Marshall alongside the Marshall Relief Alliance, NC State University Extension, and EcoForesters to offer a workshop that welcomed members of the LGBTQ+ community. Seventeen participants spent the day learning chainsaw maintenance, operation, and safety in a welcoming, inclusive setting. The workshop wrapped up with a session on fire risk assessment, connecting practical skills with broader strategies for protecting homes and landscapes from future wildfire threats.

In Boone, the Guild partnered with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, NC State University Extension, Appalachian State University, and the Southern Blue Ridge Prescribed Burn Association to instruct fifteen local women in chainsaw safety and handling. These ladies had a hands-on experience and walked away with smiling faces and all ten fingers and toes!

The strength of instruction and thoughtful planning was the key to these successful workshops. Participants appreciated the instructors’ expertise and approachable, patient teaching styles. The balance of tools, safety gear, and hands-on time created an ideal environment for learning. Everyone had access to what they needed, from access to saws to plenty of time to ask questions and build confidence.

These trainings empowered participants to step outside their comfort zones and take a more active role in stewarding their land. Many folks shared that they felt more capable and confident operating equipment and making safety decisions on their properties.

Beyond the sawdust and safety tips, the workshops also sparked new energy and connections. Engaging with partners and stakeholders through these events helped strengthen existing relationships and opened the door to broader collaborations beyond chainsaw trainings. These types of collaborative workshops are about more than just chainsaws and wildfire mitigation—they’re about building inclusive, resilient communities where women and other historically underrepresented groups feel equipped and empowered to care for their land and each other.

Rethinking Red Pine: Forest Diversity and Resilience in the Great Lakes Region

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Christian Nelson, Lake States Coordinator

Red pine ( Pinus resinosa ) forests have long been an iconic feature of the Great Lakes region. Often towering 100 feet or more above the ground and with three-foot diameter trunks, “Norway Pine”, as Minnesotans sometimes call their state tree, is tall, straight, and relatively knot-free. If properly thinned, red pine have little taper and grow quickly, making them commercially valuable. They are affected by few plant diseases or insect pests and grow quickly.

Planted en masse during the 1930s Great Depression era by Civilian Conservation Corps crews, and again in the 1960s by county and state foresters, red pine was the tree of choice for generating income on tax-forfeited farmland. Nearly 100 years after those first trees were planted in tidy, evenly spaced rows, and in the face of rapid climate change and shifting values, land managers across the region are reimagining what red pine forests can — and should — look like in the future.

A Legacy Planted and a New Direction?

Today, more than 75% of red pine forests in the U.S. exist as plantations, many of which are aging and increasingly vulnerable to pests, drought, high winds, and ice storms. Stands that have been well managed may have trees growing too large for sawmills optimized for moderate-sized pines. Neglected stands are crowded stands that may have trees with strong taper and slow growth rates and be especially prone to windthrow, ice damage, drought stress, and insects or other diseases. Pulp markets for small-diameter trees are weak or absent in many areas.

Historically, red pine was found in mixed stands of up to a dozen other species. Periodic fires exposed mineral soil and killed overstory trees and shrubs, boosting sunshine reaching the forest floor and providing fire-adapted seedlings the conditions they need to germinate and thrive. Lightning started some of these fires but many more were intentionally lit by local Indigenous populations using fire as a tool to open up areas for hunting, to create fresh browse for game animals, to clear areas for small scale agriculture or habitation, and even to decrease swarms of biting insects along travel routes in an era before Deep Woods Off and mesh bug suits. Some areas were burned frequently resulting in a more open, park-like landscape with only large, fire-tolerant species like jack-, red-, and white pine, or oaks. Some fires were large crown fires that killed the largest trees in the stand

and created natural openings on the forest floor. Other areas, perhaps wetter, sheltered from the wind on the leeward side of a beaver pond, or burned overnight when the temperature cooled and the winds diminished, left the overstory untouched and an understory that was as different as the flames that carried through.

In the late 1800’s, European settlers trying to prevent large wildfires from burning across thousands and thousands of acres of post-logging slash, adopted a hard stance against the use of fire. This included the traditional or cultural burning practices of tribes, who were fined brutally if caught. As technology and infrastructure improved, settlers got better at limiting the area of land burned every year. This had – and continues to have – important ramifications for the millions of acres of forests that evolved with, and depend on, fire to perpetuate themselves on the landscape. Red pine forestry in the region, with an emphasis on growth, yield, row-crop harvesting efficiency, and economics, has grown stands with little structural or species diversity, limited ecological value, and increasing vulnerability in a period of accelerating climatic change and the threats and stressors that come with it.

Managing for Resilience, Not Just Yield

The shift underway across the Great Lakes region marks a transition from the forestry of the past two centuries — focused on maximizing red pine growth — to an ecological approach that values biodiversity and therefore resilience. Ecological forestry in red pine forests may include:

Variable retention harvesting (VRH) : Where thinning occurs in groups or patches and may leave the surrounding matrix untouched. and where existing groups of trees -old, large, or non-pine-collectively referred to as “legacy trees,”, are left standing to preserve habitat complexity and biodiversity. In a given stand, trees of different species or ages may occupy different canopy layers. Throughout the stand, tree species and size, density, and the locations of openings should be heterogeneous. This is a markedly different forest than the evenly spaced, same-age, same-height, monoculture red pine plantations of the last several decades and more closely resembles historic red pine stands. Dense stands may need crown thinning throughout the stand ahead of VRH treatment.
Site selection: Evaluating soil water and nutrient properties, regional native plant communities, or habitat systems, to assess the suitability of the site for red pine and other species now and into the future. High quality sites may provide the best opportunities for ecological management. Areas with red pine growing on poorly suited sites, especially if already showing signs of distress, should be considered for transition to a more suitable species mix.
Species selection: Using current habitat type information along with climate change predictions to favor tree species predicted to tolerate the current and predicted future climatic conditions. This may mean planting trees with genetic stock sourced from warmer areas, or planting species not currently native to the local area but present in the larger region.
Understory enhancement: Encouraging shrubs, non-pine trees, and coarse woody debris (downed logs) using silvicultural techniques like gap creation, scarification or mechanical brushing, and using prescribed fire with variable intensity, frequency, and layout.
Habitat enhancement elements: Including the ecological forestry elements from above and other important features such as: large standing dead trees (snags), some canopy gaps in a “pre-forest” condition, and invasive species control.
Extended rotation ages: Red pine responds well to thinning, specifically a reduction in crown competition, even as tree age surpasses 100 or more years. Crown thinning every 10-15 years helps keep live crown rations in the 30-50% range, optimizing growth rates and the ability for the tree to utilize new space. Done properly, economic returns on stands with extended rotation ages are on par with traditional short rotations. Extended rotation forestry can help achieve ecological goals while remaining economically viable.

Restoring Diversity, Restoring Resilience

Ecological forestry, specifically increasing biodiversity, doesn’t mean abandoning red pine. The goal is to restore the complexity and broad value of historic red pine dominated forests by mimicking the natural and historic disturbances that created them. Complexity is largely absent when managing red pine like a row crop and in an age where logistics make regular burning difficult.

In plantation settings, tools like prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, gap creation, girdling, and planting suitable but underrepresented species can be used to mimic the forces of wind, and especially fire, that once shaped red pine ecosystems.

Today’s Forestry, Tomorrow’s Legacy

The Great Lakes region’s forests are not locked in time but they are locked in place. They are living systems in a dynamic environment that is changing quickly all around them. Building resilience into red pine stands today means healthier forests tomorrow.

Reflections from the 2025 PNW Guild Gathering in Arcata, CA

Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

A 30th Anniversary Celebration of Community, Conservation, and Collaborative Forestry

Written by Chanda Littlefield

On April 25–26, 2025, the Forest Stewards Guild co-hosted a two-day Pacific Northwest Guild Gathering in Arcata, California, in celebration of the Guild’s 30th Anniversary. The event was organized in partnership with the City of Arcata, Pacific Forest Trust, BBW & Associates, and Cal Poly Humboldt. Set among the towering redwoods of Humboldt County, the gathering brought together a wide range of participants—forestry professionals, students, local residents, and many of the Guild’s original founders.

This gathering was part of a special series of events celebrating the Guild’s 30th Anniversary. The idea to invite and support members to host local gatherings as part of the celebration came from Colleen Robinson (Forest Stewards Guild Communications Manager), and this Arcata event came to life thanks to Jack Singer (Pacific Forest Trust and Guild Membership and Policy Council member), who stepped up to host and helped organize the two-day experience alongside local partners.

The presence of many founding members made this gathering especially meaningful. Their contributions to the Guild’s early direction and lasting values were central to conversations throughout the event. Attendees had the rare opportunity to hear directly from those who helped shape the organization, offering valuable perspective for both long-time and newer participants.

Day 1: Ecological Community Forestry in Practice

Friday’s tour of Arcata Community Forest highlighted one of the longest-running examples of community-based forest stewardship in the country. Michael McDowall, Natural Resource Specialist with the City of Arcata, and Mark Andre, former Environmental Services Director of the City of Arcata and Guild founding member, led the tour. Together, they shared how the forest is managed for habitat, recreation, and sustainable timber harvesting—guided by ecological principles and shaped by decades of community input.

Stops included both reserve and actively managed redwood stands, where participants discussed forest structure, late-seral development, and the nuances of public forest management. The day wrapped up with a social gathering at Redwood Curtain Brewing, where attendees connected over shared interests and a shared landscape.

Day 2: Restoration Forestry and Climate-Smart Practices

Saturday’s full-day field tour of the Van Eck Forest, hosted by Pacific Forest Trust and Cal Poly Humboldt, and featuring foresters from BBW & Associates, explored the cutting edge of conservation-focused forest management. Stewardship Director Jack Singer introduced the property’s conservation easement framework, while Jared Gerstein and Paul Harper of BBW & Associates walked attendees through thinning sites, growth monitoring plots, and carbon modeling efforts.

Participants also heard from renowned researchers Dr. Stephen Sillett and Dr. Marie Antoine, who shared their work in redwood canopy ecology, and Dr. Jeffrey Kane, who discussed prescribed fire and restoration. Margo and Patrick Moorhouse offered insight into aquatic ecosystem restoration and salmonid habitat enhancement. The tour demonstrated how conservation goals, carbon sequestration, and sustainable harvesting can work together in complex, dynamic forests.

Shared Learning Across Generations and Backgrounds

from individuals who helped shape the Guild’s early vision, as well as students just beginning their forestry journeys. In the forests themselves, ancient redwood stumps supported vigorous new growth—a reminder that each generation’s work rests upon the last. Though many attendees were new to the Guild, the shared values of stewardship, curiosity, and commitment to forest health were felt strongly throughout the event.

As we celebrate three decades of Guild history, events like these remind us that the strength of our community lies not only in our roots—but also in our branches reaching forward.

Where These Waters Flow

Tue, 13 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Roman Colangelo

The heart of Alabama is cleaved by 194 miles of freshwater. On a five-mile segment of the Cahaba River, just outside Birmingham, were several canoes headed by Wil Rainer and backed by La’Tanya Scott of the Cahaba River Society. A joint venture between the University of Alabama and Mississippi State University chapters of the Guild had resulted in a unit of clumsy and joyful students desperately knifing at the water with their paddles. Just below the surface was a rockface adorned with the fossilized remains of Earth’s first photosynthetic organisms, primordial biomass forever entwined with the hallowed grounds that it once ruled.

Near the end of our journey, we saw the roots of a sycamore that stood on eroded ground, bared naked and grasping for any source of stability. The decline of stabilizing riparian vegetation along the Cahaba has caused the river to become increasingly sedimented. The hundreds of species cradled in the Cahaba enter an uncertain future in the face of an increasingly unfamiliar home. Early European records of the Cahaba tell a story of a pristine river, a portrait that reflects not only our shortcomings in stewarding the river but also its lost beauty.

The heartbeat of the Cahaba carries the legacy of its rich biodiversity. It is waking history, a winding, mystic path that hums with life and weaves a beautiful web of ecology. The day I spent on the river with my peers from the Forest Stewards Guild is one of my fondest memories and a reminder of why we must responsibly steward our lands and waters.

The edges of the river were crowned with privet, foliage faded from the ritualistic surging and receding of the Cahaba. Cane desperately held onto what land it could claim along the river. We stumbled upon a sycamore that had managed to affix itself to the earth while at a strong tilt. Further down the river stood another sycamore with a split trunk that had conquered its own little island, a tuning fork that harmonized with the song of the Cahaba. While docked on a little rocky bank, our party was witness to a singular turtle that had bested the flow of the river and stood victorious on one of the few rocks protruding out of the water. It seems that the turtle was a portent of mischief, as that same rock proved to be a troublesome obstacle in our efforts to defeat the rapids. My canoe partner and I had conquered the first rapid, but our shared moment of relief proved to be our downfall, as we had failed to generate enough momentum to best the following rapid. We decided that we were both content to remain prisoners of the rock while the rest of the group caught up.

Forestry for Minnesota Birds: Efforts for a Healthy Habitat

Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Christian Nelson

Minnesota is also home to approximately 250 bird species that breed in the state, 150 of which breed in Minnesota’s forests. Some species, like the Golden-winged Warbler, a species that has declined dramatically across the U.S., are still doing relatively well in the state. Without forests, these forest-reliant birds would likely simply disappear. And without birds, these same forests may decline as they become overrun with insects or other pests, or as trees fail to have their seeds dispersed or their flowers pollinated.

Nearly 3 billion birds, or approximately 1 in 4 birds, have disappeared from the U.S. since the 1970s. A variety of factors are responsible, including habitat loss and fragmentation from human development, habitat quality decline from climate change, invasive species, or other factors, collisions with power lines and windows, light pollution that can disrupt nighttime migration, predation by house cats, a decline in insects populations, or problems in the bird’s wintering grounds, just to name a few.

Recently, a group of bird biologists and researchers, professional forest and wildlife managers, and citizen groups, got together over the course of a year to create the Forestry for Minnesota Birds program and a conservation guidebook recommending the best forest management practices to-date to help increase quality forest bird habitat in the state and slow or reverse the decline of forest birds in the state.

The Forestry for the Birds program isn’t new. Several states have implemented their own programs to help improve bird habitat and to educate and engage the public on ongoing problems and potential solutions. In 2008, for example, the Forest Stewards Guild, in partnership with other agencies like Maine Audubon, helped create the Maine Forestry for the Birds program. Minnesota’s recent efforts build on the success of other programs across the country.

The Forestry for Minnesota Birds program has several goals: keep common forest birds common, increase the population of declining birds, and to educate foresters, wildlife managers, loggers, and the public on the best, most up-to-date, scientifically backed forest management practices aimed at improving bird habitat and ideally breeding success.

View a digital copy of the Minnesota Guidebook and register for our upcoming event.

You may also watch a 1-hour webinar recently hosted by the University of Minnesota – Extension’s Fridays with a Forester series that provides an overview of the Guidebook, its development, and content.

With efforts like the Forestry for Minnesota Birds program, we can work together to protect both birds and the forests they call home.

Minnesota is home to 18 million acres of forests, nearly 1/3 of the state, that support a 17 billion dollar forest-products industry and approximately 64,000 jobs in the state. These same forests also help support a nearly 600 million dollar wildlife-watching tourism economy, including bird watching. Hiking, cross-country skiing, mountain biking, hunting, ATV, and snowmobile trails crisscross our forests and campgrounds, and parks are spread throughout. Forests also help moderate the climate, clean the air and water, provide habitat for many animals, reptiles, and amphibians, and provide numerous other benefits. The importance of Minnesota’s forests to Minnesota’s residents and visitors cannot be overstated.

In addition to workshops, webinars, and news articles like this one, a 60-page Forestry for Minnesota Birds Conservation Guidebook was recently published. Inside this guide you will find management recommendations and biological information for 18 forest songbird species, four primary and seven secondary forest types, information related to forest ecology, native plant communities, and other habitat features, as well specific silvicultural recommendations for a number of different forest types and goals. There is also a robust collection of resources for additional information and landowner assistance programs and a worksheet professionals and others can use to help assess important aspects in their own forests.

Planning & Preparedness in the Headwaters of the Rio Grande

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written b y Christi Bode

Lines on a map are one way of describing a place —

Who owns what.

The length of a fence line.

Jurisdictional boundaries.

Perceived red tape.

There are a lot of ways to look at the wildfire crisis and reframe it as an opportunity. Fire readily crosses boundaries. Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) are another way of telling the story, creating a shared understanding of the landscape. This tool helps land and emergency managers develop a coordinated cross-boundary strategy for wildfire planning and response.

In early April, the Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado State Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and private foresters re-evaluated lines originally drawn in 2019. These initial PODs never hit their maximum potential.

Over two days, with the support of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, the group doubled the number of lines across 8,000 square miles in the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Over 1.8 million acres of National Forest ring the San Luis Valley, an agricultural region located in south-central Colorado. About 50% of the region is privately owned. These PODs range in size from several hundred to several thousand acres and mapped irrespective of jurisdictional boundaries.

In this vast rural expanse, agencies are stretched thin. Land managers recognized the need for a unified approach to wildfire in the valley. Their local fire knowledge, paired with advanced spatial analytics, improves decision-making under tough circumstances with limited resources.

“It’s critical that land management agencies collectively understand where there are opportunities to contain a fire. We have to get ahead of the next big event to the extent that we can,” says Adam Moore, Supervisory Forester with the Colorado State Forest Service.

Fire intervals occur infrequently in the high elevation spruce-fir forests of the Rio Grande. When they do happen, they go big. Since 2000, wildfires have burned nearly 300 square miles of the valley. This includes the 2013 West Fork Complex (88,000 acres) and the 2018 Spring Fire (108,000 acres). Until recently, these fires ranked as the second and third largest in Colorado history.

Rapid situational awareness is key for wildfire response. It’s often difficult for firefighters to fully consider the risks they’re exposed to or where there’s ecological benefits of fire in the landscape.

The Risk Management Assistance (RMA) dashboard is a snapshot of PODs networks nationwide. It is typically one of the first tools incident commanders (IC) reference when responding to fire. It communicates local conditions, the difficulty of suppression and the likelihood of a given control line’s effectiveness. This helps IC teams identify the best places to engage with fire and where operational challenges exist, while minimizing risks to responders.

The RMA dashboard also serves as open-source data for fuels and natural resource planning. Strategic actions can include acombination of prescribed fire, commercial and non-commercial treatments. Fuel breaks created along roads harden emergency routes. Thinning around critical infrastructure protects drinking water supplies for communities. PODs offer a cohesive strategy for increasing pace and scale of treatments on the landscape. It elevates programs such as the Good Neighbor Authority and other stewardship agreements among organizations and contractors.

Ty Aldworth, a social scientist with the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, facilitated several PODs workshops throughout the state prior to working with the San Luis Valley fire management community.

“This is the best PODs planning conversation I’ve been a part of to date,” Ty commented at a wrap-up meeting with partners.

The PODs framework has been applied on over 40 national forests and counting for cross-boundary planning and wildfire response. The value of collaborative preplanning facilitates smart decision-making and proactively engages communities, before the fire.

PODs are spatial containers, typically bound by roads, trails, ridge tops, and other control features. They can be thought of as a “catcher’s mitt” for fire, providing decision space before and during an event. What’s inside the POD is equally important, as it identifies values (e.g., homes, infrastructure, water resources, wildlife habitat) important to protect.

Pathways to Sustain Ash: Insights from the Guild’s Ash Seed Collection Series

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Michelle Giles and Rachel Swanwick

The two webinars and accompanying field tour, challenged the prevalent narrative that ash preservation is a lost cause due to the invasion of the emerald ash borer (EAB). Hundreds attended the series, including conservation leaders, concerned citizens, and partners from Tribal Nations, government agencies, universities, and NGOs.

Why Preserve Ash Seed?

In the kick-off webinar, “ Why Preserve Ash Seed ,” Dr. Nate Siegert from the USDA Forest Service shared updates on ash and EAB infestations. He noted that EAB is “the most destructive insect to invade North America,” stressing that management actions like seed collection can serve as a critical lifeboat to protect the future of ash.

For Tribal Nations like the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, preserving ash seeds is a vital cultural practice. Jessica Raspitha, the Tribe’s Land Resources Program Manager, discussed their efforts to ensure future generations can access brown, also known as black ash for traditional basket making. The Tribe’s seed collection efforts are part of a broader strategy to conserve and restore ash. Their seeds are stored for use in their native plant nursery or shared with neighboring Tribes.

The How-To of Ash Seed Preservation

The second webinar, “ The How-to Ash Seed Preservation from Collection to Propagation ,” featured Ella McDonald and Tyler Everett from the University of Maine’s Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabankik (APCAW). They emphasized the urgency of collecting ash seeds from areas affected by EAB, referencing the Brown Ash Seed Collection Manual (Francis, 2023), a key resource to learn about the seed collection process.

S peaker Emily Baisden, Director of the Wild Seed Project, expressed her eagerness to expand the non-profit’s intake of brown ash seed. Her facility receives seeds from hundreds of species annually, but Emily hopes to see more brown ash included among them.

Proper seed drying is essential for seed viability, a sentiment shared by Les Benedict, the Environment Division Assistant Director with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe. Les has been a leader in ash preservation both for his Tribe and across the Northeast for decades. He demonstrated multiple seed drying techniques, including how to build a DIY pressurized seed dryer using common hardware materials. Following his talk, participants collaborated on planning their own seed collection cycles during an interactive breakout session.

The New Hampshire State Forest Nursery Field Tour

He partnered with Billy Kunelius, the NH State Forest Nursery Manager, to propagate and plant ash seeds collected from various sites in the state to enhance ash regeneration. Billy shared insights on how seeds are sorted, cleaned, and prepared

for planting. Attendees took part in a field walk through the nursery’s seed processing barn and 16.5 acres of planted saplings. Many of the successfully propagated ash seedlings are slated for planting in New Hampshire’s forests this spring.

The “Pathways to Sustain Ash” event series engaged audiences both virtually and in-person, sharing the message that collecting seeds—whether to store in a seed bank or for propagation in a nursery—is an act of hope and stewardship. SAP-Ne will continue hosting events this year and is rolling out a network website to share resources on ash protection.

This spring, the Sustaining Ash Partners Network (SAP-Ne) hosted a three-part event series, “Pathways to Sustain Ash,” to highlight the importance of seed collection in ash stewardship. SAP-Ne promotes ash protection across the Northeast and is managed by the Forest Stewards Guild’s Northeast program manager, Rachel Swanwick.

Dr. Jill Hamilton from Penn State and Jeff Carstens from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service highlighted the importance of preserving the genetic biodiversity of ash seeds. Jeff operates the “Fraxinus (ash) Repository” in Ames, Iowa, with ash comprising 20% of its collection—an increase from just 3-4% prior to EAB. Jill and her students are studying and propagating seeds from across the U.S. and Canada, creating a “genetic library of black ash”, with plans to plant 9,000 seedlings from her research greenhouse this spring in New York, Pennsylvania, and the Canadian province of Quebec.

The series closed with an in-person tour of the New Hampshire State Forest Nursery. Attendees learned how Bill Davidson from the NH Di vision of Forests and Lands will manage the “aftermath forest” left by EAB; a forest without mature ash. Davidson hopes to keep EAB controlled with the help of biocontrols – a host of predatory wasp species that were released in New Hampshire in 2014.

Remembering Richard Hart

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Mary Snieckus

Sincere appreciation to Sharon McCann for providing biographical information

The ideas that led to the Guild’s 1997 founding were simple yet profound. First, that forestry could be practiced to result in better forest conditions over time and sustainably provide for human needs. Termed ecological forestry, early leaders, including Henry Carey and Steve Harrington, started to learn about forest practitioners managing forests with this philosophy, and went to visit them and see their work. That led to the second idea critical to the Guild’s identity: that ecological forestry practitioners needed a way to connect with one another to share the “spark” – the observations, experiences, and questions that animate their practice.

Noted ecologist Richard Hart was involved in these early Guild gatherings and embodied the “spark”. A keen observer and systems thinker, he was a remarkable person who led a life of curiosity and connection.

Richard was a multi-talented innovator. Notable projects and accomplishments included:

working with R. Buckminster Fuller on the refinement of his World Games Symposiums;

co-recipient of the California Golden Bell Award for innovative secondary education;

consultant to the California Dept. of Education for environmental education curriculum

developer of mineral water processing technology for the USA and China; and

designing and implementing the largest biophysical monitoring plan at the time for the US Forest Service and Lake County, Oregon.

From the 1990s to 2005, Richard’s deep love and respect for Nature led him to pursue knowledge of the natural sciences, and work in environmental conservation and sustainability. He used his skills as an educator and innovator, along with his natural warmth, genuine caring and ability to communicate, to build community among the many forest conservation groups in California and Oregon. He was well respected by forest activists, forest scientists and Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management professionals. Over the years, Richard was funded by numerous organizations, including Sustainable Northwest and the Ford Foundation. Richard was a forestland assessor and contributing member of the Forest Stewardship Council.

I met Richard during the four years he was contracted to monitor the health of the Chewaucan watershed in Lake County ineastern Oregon. This was the last major project he took on before retiring in 2005. He was supported by the Forest Stewards Guild to teach biophysical monitoring across the US. When I spent time with Richard and his crew of young adults in their watershed, the Chewaucan, they were collecting data to assess the impact of forest management practices on streams.  But more than that, he took time with them to linger around the big trees, and on that day, we sat in one area he named a specific Ponderosa pine tree “P-pine”. We sat with the tree, listening to the birds who perched in its branches, smelling the butterscotch scent of the bark on the sunny side, and feeling the sunlight filter through the swaying branches. We talked about the life of the tree, how it was connected to bugs, the soil, and the salmon.  And then we talked about how we are all connected through time and with the earth through the elements of our bodies and the spark of our souls. Those were days in the woods when collecting data may have been the reason for being out there, but it was also an opportunity for profound, deep grounding and connection with the place because of being there with Richard. As a result of his work with the Guild teaching biophysical monitoring, Richard estimated that his methodology was adapted for use by forest-based communities on nearly 3 million acres around the country.

David Perry, a respected professor of ecosystem studies in forest science at Oregon State University, knew Richard. Quoted in an article published in a 1996 issue of the International Journal of Ecoforestry , Dr. Perry said: “Richard has beg un to quantify some issues of sustainability like water quality and soil compaction. Before Richard, there was poor monitoring being done. Richard began to get out and measure things and teach others to do it, including people in the Forest Service and environmental organizations . . . . He really set things in motion by judging how close we are to meeting environmental objectives.” Dr. Perry called Richard “a pioneer in terms of translating some of the science into the field and teaching people simple techniques for measurement.”

Richard was a mentor and friend to me, and to so many others. His varied life made him a patient and thoughtful listener. One of his gifts was a deep understanding of how to connect with people, because he was ready for them, when and where they were ready for him.

The last time I saw Richard was when he hosted a summer Guild gathering at his home on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He wanted to show us the work he was doing to help a friend who owned a large, forested acreage to manage it sustainably. We spent the day in the woods sharing observations and experiences about what made that system work. And learning from each other. Richard was joyful in a place he loved with people who shared his sense of wonder. We were treated to a dinner he grilled for us, where he continued telling stories with a twinkle in his eyes. In the evening of that long summer day, we all walked to the beach to admire the last of the daylight turn the Coast Mountains and Salish Sea pink, then purple, then deep black as the stars burned brightly. We stood quietly; in awe of the day we had shared together.

Earlier in the day Richard had smiled as he handed me a poem by Rumi:

On a day

when the wind is perfect

the sail just needs to open and the world is full

of beauty.

Today is such a 

day.

Indeed, it was. 

I’m very grateful Richard was a part of my life, and the lives of so many. He is always in our hearts.

Richard’s introduction to environmental stewardship began as the watershed shepherd of the Christian Brothers vineyard in Napa Valley, California, where he joined the Catholic monastic order to become a teaching monk at the age of 14. His formal monastic and university education prepared him to teach at secondary and post-secondary schools in California. While a monk he obtained a Master’s degree in Ecclesiology (sacred architecture) in Rome and designed Catholic churches. Soon after he left monastic life at 25, Richard worked as a designer/planner for the architectural firm of William Pereira & Associates in Los Angeles on projects including the TransAmerica building in San Francisco, developments in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and Oahu, Hawaii, and Los Angeles International Airport.

 I knew Richard as a contemplative, observant man with a mischievous sense of humor. He noticed things, both about the world around him and the people in it. Our conversations invariably started with what was going on in the forests around us, wherever we each were, before we could get to what was going on within us.

A Collective Effort – Community Wood Banks in New Mexico

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Juan Lemos and Rachel Bean

The Guild has worked with Tribal and traditional communities over the past two years to build the capacity of community wood banks –local fuelwood distribution programs that source firewood and make it available to the surrounding community – and to select four of these wood banks to serve as Wood for Life “hubs.” These hubs are strategically located to receive semi-truck loads of logs from the Zuni Mountains and redistribute them to smaller surrounding wood banks or families, thereby maximizing the number of people who can be supported by the program. NFF administers the program and coordinates deliveries, and the Forest Service provides the funding.

The loads of logs that are delivered to wood bank hubs need to be processed before being distributed to the community. Processing firewood requires significant work and equipment – cutting 20-foot logs into 18-inch rounds, splitting those into firewood, and stacking the firewood into cords – so the Guild and partner organizations like Dine Baadeiti have adopted an “all hands on deck” approach. Volunteers are asked to show up to the wood banks for a few hours on weekends, with the idea that many hands make for light work. Local groups, like Yee Ha’olnii Doo Tseiiahi community center, the Tse’ii’ahi Chapter House, and the Senior Advisory Council on the Navajo Nation north of the city of Gallup, partner together to organize and host these volunteer workdays.

Along with other capacity-building and wood-sourcing efforts, the Guild and its partner organizations are taking a “cross boundaries” approach to connect fuelwood to local distribution programs. This success is made possible through the dedicated work and partnership of Tribal and Traditional community members and natural resources managers, grassroots local organizations, the guidance of the Zuni Mountains Collaborative, and land management organizations including the Guild, NFF, and USFS.

The Zuni Mountains Collaborative is a working partnership of over 30 agencies, organizations, state entities, tribes, universities, cooperatives, and individuals in west-central New Mexico. In 2023, members of the Collaborative identified a disconnect between the amount of wood being harvested from ecologically beneficial thinning projects in the forested Zuni Mountains and neighboring communities’ need for firewood and fuelwood sources. In response, members of the Collaborative, including the Forest Stewards Guild and the US Forest Service, partnered with the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to bring the Wood for Life program to this landscape.

Guild staff attended several of these community workdays at the Standing Rock wood bank hub in February and March. Volunteers, ranging in age from 7 to 70+, used chainsaws, hydraulic splitters, axes, and mauls to make a dent in the large piles of logs scattered around the yard, knowing that the firewood would be distributed almost as fast as they could cut it. At the end of each day, the volunteers gathered to share a meal. More equipment, larger storage spaces, more volunteers, and many more community workdays will be needed in the future as this program ramps up.

Connections Made for Landscapes and Communities

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Lily Bruce

The partners of the 2-3-2 are no strangers to nearly insurmountable challenges. Almost ten years ago, some folks met at a bar in Chama to discuss the increasing wildfire crisis, and how to coordinate forest restoration across state lines and the Continental Divide. Some other folks met at a conference in Denver, around that same time, to dream about a collaborative group in the southwest that would work across state lines, across US Forest Service Boundaries. And so the first few droplets of the 2-3-2 clung together, gathering into a trickle of meetings, and eventually swelling to the broad and robust partnership that brought 90 people together at our first Full Partnership meeting of 2025.

At this moment, the challenges we face are complicated by changes to federal direction. Twenty-five to thirty percent of USFS personnel across our four national forests were terminated, with more cuts impending. Many of our NGO partners find their federal agreements on hold or under scrutiny. Leading up to the recent 2-3-2 Full Partnership Meeting, many partners felt not only weakened in their capacity but also in their spirit.

On February 28th, at Ghost Ranch, we woke up to a relative moment of quiet, probably because of the bad cell service and limited Wi-Fi. Walking into the sunlight meeting room felt like peeking out from under the rubble. And we each saw that we were not alone. This year, we were not only joined by the partners of the 2-3-2 but also by Rio Chama Congreso, helping us reconnect conversations about forest and water management. The recent surge of fear and confusion is daunting, but it is no match for our quiet determination, which is fueled not by hatred but by love—love for these five million acres, these four forests, three rivers, and two watersheds.

The 2-3-2 has never faced a “disturbance” like this, but our partnership is inherently adaptive and resilient. Our partners have diverse strengths and expertise, and this gives us greater flexibility. I know we will persevere. We will comfort each other and lift each other up. We will call each other up, because less capacity demands even more coordination, to leverage our existing projects even further.

I do not deny that the world we work in has changed dramatically. But I know that our power lies in our shared goals, our principled engagement, and our capacity for joint action. Much of our work aligns with this administration’s priorities. We aim to protect rural communities from wildfires and agricultural communities from drought. We are actively seeking opportunities to bolster the rural economies on our landscape. These are not things that we started doing to align ourselves with the current administration. These have been priorities of the 2-3-2 Partnership all along.

Tell your supervisor, your funders, and our policymakers that the 2-3-2 Partnership creates benefits for people on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the state line, and both sides of the continental divide.

If they ask you how, invite them to join our Socioeconomic Working Group, where we are supporting local community colleges in developing a practical forestry curriculum. Invite them to join the Conservation Finance Subcommittee, where we are pursuing opportunities to engage private industry in paying for restoration. Invite them to join the Monitoring Committee, where we are using tested and novel methods to measure and understand our collective impact. And invite them to the next 2-3-2 Full Partnership meeting on May 22 in Pagosa Springs. Our commitments to the forests, waters, wildlife, and most potently, people of this landscape continue.

Reflections from the Guild’s All Hands All Lands Winter Crew 2024-2025

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Compiled by Carlos Saiz

The winter of 2024-2025 was warmer and drier than normal here in New Mexico, but for the Guild’s Winter Crew, it was full of unforgettable journeys with pockets filled with experiences that gave them a taste of everything. Since prescribed burning was a rare event for the crew this year, their winter involved a significant amount saw work helping partners such as Tesuque and Sandia Pueblo, the City of Santa Fe, and the Forest Service accomplish key goals in fire mitigation.

For the members of the crew, this opportunity proved to be a perfect stepping stone for their future careers. For our crew lead, it was a rediscovery of a passion long forgotten. The dedication of these young individuals is an example for others to try new things, embrace change, and never stop searching for who they really are. Their stories go much further than what their words can describe, but here’s a quick peek at what they have accomplished.

My Journey Through Wildland

Ayden DePriest

Winter 2024-2025 Crew Member (Ayden was also in the Forest Stewards Youth Corps Fall Fire & Fuels season)

My best fire experience was during the Capilla burn-up in Mountainair with the Mt. Taylor hotshots. It was my second burn, and conditions were much better than the first due to more receptive fuels. The burn covered 530 acres, and we had to finish it in one day, creating a sense of urgency. We hiked up a large hill multiple times before moving on. Around midday, I ran out of water after forgetting to refill my supply, and I also left my lunch in the truck. Going back wasn’t an option, so I had no food and little water for the long day ahead. After a tough day of mopping up, I could barely walk back to the truck but kept going. We did an AAR and left around 1900.

Pockets Full of Sawdust

Winter 2024-2025 Crew Lead

After years of remote corporate work, I realized I was missing a deeper connection with the outdoors. In 2020, I left my stable accounting job to join an AmeriCorps-funded trail crew in North Carolina, trading financial security for physical labor and nature. Living out of my car, working long days in the dirt, and embracing discomfort felt like a return to something real.

Since then, I’ve worked various seasonal conservation jobs, including wildland firefighting in Montana. Seeking a fulfilling winter job, I joined the Forest Stewards Guild, working on fire mitigation in New Mexico. Leading a winter crew has been immensely rewarding, reinforcing my belief that teaching is a powerful way to learn.

Stepping away from climate-controlled spaces and screens, I’ve found purpose in hard work and stewardship of natural spaces. The Forest Stewards Guild has provided an invaluable experience, reaffirming my desire to be outside, useful, and free.

Career Taste Test

Jacob Valdez

Winter 2024-2025 Crew Member (Jacob was also in the Forest Stewards Youth Corps Fall Fire & Fuels season)

Throughout the program, we traveled across New Mexico, exploring areas I had never visited before, learning about local wildlife, plants, and mountain ranges. I also gained insights into forest management by working with various departments. One of the highlights was participating in a prescribed burn at Jemez, where I worked with multiple local fire crews and witnessed a burn plan in action.

The Guild provided valuable training and exposure to diverse aspects of forest management, making it a great foundation for anyone pursuing a wildland fire career.

’ve always wanted to do something bigger than myself. I first considered the Army but was inspired to pursue firefighting after watching a YouTube video. I began with structural firefighting but shifted to wildland firefighting. After completing my EMT-B, I was unsure how to start until my aunt shared a link to the Forest Stewards Guild Fall Crew. I applied, got the position, and worked hard to earn my certifications. During this time, I gained valuable experience at the ranger station, prepped prescribed burns, and learned the importance of hard work.

Chris Brooks

I discovered The Forest Stewards Guild through an ad in my village newsletter. Although I had no prior experience in Wildland Firefighting, I applied anyway. After meeting my crew, learning their names, and getting issued firefighting gear, our training began at Cottonwood Gulch with two weeks of hands-on instruction. The first week covered firefighting techniques and the second week focused on chainsaw skills.

Planting Trees for a Purpose with the University of Alabama’s Forest Stewards Guild Chapter

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written By Lily Roehrig

For many residents of the day care, spending time outdoors is a cherished part of their daily routine. Nature has long been shown to have therapeutic effects, including reducing stress, improving mental health, and providing a sense of peace and connection. Recognizing the positive impact that nature can have on well-being, the students set out to enhance the outdoor space surrounding the facility, hoping that the residents will be able to watch the seedlings grow, enjoy their blooming in the spring, and promote their well-being over the years.

The event was a shining example of how students can make a positive difference beyond the classroom. Through their volunteer work, the guild members not only contributed to the improvement of the adult day care but also helped foster a deeper connection between forests and the community.

This tree-planting event marks just one of many initiatives UA’s chapter of the Forest Stewards Guild plans to carry out in the future, continuing its mission to promote forestry education, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.

Editor’s note: coming very soon, UA Student Chapter members will present a bit about their chapter’s activities and logistics on a webinar for Guild student and professional members. Stay tuned!

This past February, a group of passionate students from the University of Alabama’s (UA) student chapter of the Forest Stewards Guild took a break from their studies and rolled up their sleeves to give back to the community. Partnering with Caring Days Adult Day Care and the UA tree nursery, the students volunteered their time to plant several dozen trees, enhancing the facility’s outdoor space and creating a more peaceful, nature-filled environment for the center’s residents.

The day was filled with hard work, enthusiasm, and camaraderie. Students worked closely with Caring Days staff and UA landscape architects to plant the containerized seedlings at the correct distancing and depths. Many of the trees chosen were native species and included northern red oak, scarlet oak, and water oak. These trees were selected with the hope that they would not only be aesthetically appealing but also attract local wildlife, further enriching the ecosystem. The group dug holes, planted seedlings, and learned about tree maintenance from the experienced architects at UA. Many of the students involved in the event are in the process of taking “Forest Ecosystem Management: Silviculture”. This is one of several courses taught by the director of UA’s environmental science department, Justin Hart, and it seeks to provide students with a knowledge of silviculture and its ecological basis so they can design manipulations in forest ecosystems. (Hart is also a Guild member and the faculty advisor for the UA Guild Student Chapter). As they worked, many students excitedly noted that they were able to connect the terminology and methods they learned in this course to the activities they were completing.

The Guild welcomes Megan Rangel-Lynch on staff

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Megan Rangel-Lynch joined the Guild in March 2024 as the Fire Adapted New Mexico Learning Network (FACNM) Project Coordinator. In this role, she is committed to fostering meaningful connections and facilitating the exchange of wildfire preparedness knowledge among experts, community leaders, and dedicated groups working across New Mexico. Beyond organizing gatherings and sharing resources among FACNM members, Megan will actively contribute to community and organizational land management projects and support workforce development opportunities. She is eager to strengthen relationships within the FACNM network and create spaces for sharing successes, addressing challenges, and advancing collective efforts toward building more wildfire-resilient communities.

She has also contributed to various land stewardship initiatives, including a season spent restoring wilderness trails in Southwest Oregon and Northwestern California that were in poor shape, fire-damaged, or impassable. In Arizona, she collaborated with local leaders and communities to better understand perceptions of wildfire risk, develop resources to support wildfire preparedness, and contribute to a broader vision of community resilience to wildfire. These experiences deepened her commitment to relationship-building and developing resources and solutions that are place-based and culturally relevant.

A note from Megan’s supervisor, Rachel Bean: When wefirstmet Megan,she was workingforthe Arizona Wildfire Initiative alongside longtimeGuild partners at Northern Arizona University,andwewereimmediatelyimpressed with her skilled facilitation andability to build collaborativetrust andconsensus.Her recentexperienceparallelsthe goals andobjectivesof FACNM,soMegan came into thisjobwell-positioned for successand has divedinhead-first.In addition to her professional acumen, Megan is warm, personable, and always up for a challenge or learning something new, making her a joy to work with.We are so excited to have her as part of the Guild teamandanticipatethat she will bring thoughtful and community-oriented growth to the Fire AdaptedNM Network.

Written by Megan Rangel-Lynch

Megan’s passion for community-centered environmental initiatives was sparked during her undergraduate work in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon, where she pursued opportunities at the intersection of communities, culture, and climate-driven impacts. Her experiences include researching the economic valuation of labor in climate-adaptation projects, conducting a field study across Belize to explore how land use and stewardship vary along cultural lines, and completing a thesis project focused on community engagement processes during the revision of forest management plans.

Outside of work, Megan enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, watching sports (especially cheering on the Ducks), and exploring new trails. Whether discovering a scenic hike or soaking in the energy of a game day crowd, she loves staying active, making the most of her time outdoors, and staying connected to the people and places she cares about.

Removing Barriers to Prescribed Fire on Private Lands in New Mexico

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Sarah DeMay

In 2021, the New Mexico State Legislature passed the Prescribed Burning Act ( HB0057 , “the Act”). This statute is intended to reduce barriers to prescribed burning on private lands, a mandate that aligns with the goals of the Forest Stewards Guild fire and fuels programs. The Act has the potential to be truly impactful in this largely rural state dominated by fire-adapted and fire-prone landscapes where decades of fire-suppression have allowed vegetation and dead and down fuels to accumulate, and where high-severity wildfire is subsequently a very real and increasingly emergent threat to forests, watersheds, communities and landowners.

For many New Mexicans, prescribed fire (especially pile burning) is accessible, affordable, and often the only tool readily available for reducing hazardous fuels around their homes and on their own lands.

The Act gives landowners in New Mexico the legal right to burn and provides for programs to reduce barriers, such as streamlining the burn permitting process, clarified liability, and the institution of a training and state certification program for prescribed burn managers: Prescribed Burning – Forestry .

Guild staff from the Southwest office have worked closely with the New Mexico Forestry Division (EMNRD) in the development and roll-out of the Act since 2019. This work began with the initial working group that crafted the legislation and we continue to be actively engaged, making significant contributions within the Model Burn Permit working group, development of burn plan templates, and within the training and certification program; the very first Certified Pile Burn Managers in New Mexico were, in fact, both Southwest Office staff members Sarah DeMay (myself) and Sam Berry. This adds up to over five years of involvement in policy and program development, but with little to no tangible results.

What we really wanted to do was put the Act to work, and get some actual burning done in 2024. We needed a piece of private land with piles to burn, people willing to work through a brand-new training and certification program, and an insufficient burn permitting process. It just so happened that I had this very scenario right next door to my home in the Jemez mountains in northern New Mexico.

Pajarito Mountain Ski Area encompasses around 800 acres of private land nestled within the Jemez Mountains and overlooking the town of Los Alamos and the adjacent National Lab.

Forests within the ski area include both severely burned and unburned north-facing mixed conifer forest intermixed with cleared ski runs and surrounded by USFS, NPS, and county lands. Much of the area has been impacted by multiple high-severity wildfires over the past two and a half decades. Dead and down fuel loads are high and the work of cutting snags and fallen trees out of trails and ski runs never ends.

The Pajarito Mountain Volunteer Chainsaw Crew works year-round to keep the area skiable and safe. Any wood they can’t take as firewood or leave on the ground, they stack for winter pile burning. Snow, colder temperatures, and higher humidities reduce fire behavior, making winter pile burning safe, affordable, and accessible.

Volunteers have been building and burning piles at Pajarito for 80 years!

This is a true hometown, volunteer-built ski area that depends on community engagement for survival. These folks love to ski, snowboard, hike, and bike, but they also love caring for the forest. Clearing and reducing dead and down fuels is dual purpose– both for recreation and for hazard fuel mitigation and forest health. Pajarito Mountain is the heart and soul of this community, and these volunteers are its stewards, keeping the forest healthy and safe and giving the gift of winter sports to future generations.

Over these eight decades, however, both the natural and political climates have changed significantly in northern New Mexico, and prescribed fire practitioners, the Pajarito crew included, have had to adapt. With warmer weather, extended periods of drought, and heavy accumulations of vegetation and dead and down fuels, firefighters are increasingly faced with extreme fire behavior that exceeds what can be anticipated based on experience and training. Prescribed fire, although typically used under conditions that produce low to moderate fire behavior that can be readily controlled, has also become more high-risk and difficult to accomplish. Federal agencies have had high-profile and destructive escapes that remain at the forefront of both New Mexico’s epic vistas and collective memory.

Not surprisingly, public support for prescribed fire has waned in recent years. Burn permitting and approval processes have become increasingly challenging due to an increase in perceived risk, liability, and the potentially catastrophic results of an escape. Luckily, many landowners and fire managers still understand that the risks associated with prescribed burning are often much lower than the risk of not burning.

Being a local skier, it came to my attention in late fall of 2024 that Pajarito had dozens of unburned piles still sitting in the middle of ski runs with less than a month to go before the typical beginning of ski season. The situation was this: Pajarito needed to burn the piles prior to ski season for safety and the viability of the business, yet the Fire Marshal acknowledged that the Los Alamos Fire Department did not have the appropriate prescribed fire qualifications or expertise to accurately assess risk and planning for the purpose of burn permitting. I saw this impasse as an opportunity to put the Act and my new certification as a Certified Pile Burn Manager to work in a way that would benefit both Pajarito Mountain Ski Area and the community.

I invited the Los Alamos Fire Marshal to the Model Burn Permit Working Group and sent him the draft version of the permit and the original legislation. In consultation with the County Attorney, it was decided that the draft model permit was adequate if used in tandem with the burn plan template and the Pile Burn Certification and training. Luckily, a proactive Pajarito volunteer had also already completed the training and requested his Prescribed Burn Manager Workbook. He agreed to work through the Pile Burn Plan template and towards Pile Burn Manager certification. This extra effort and dedication to safety gave the Fire Marshal not only a viable process but also the confidence to issue a prescribed burn permit.

The Pajarito Pile Burn went off without a hitch just before the holidays in late December 2024. Volunteers were able to burn dozens of piles over two days, reducing hazardous fuels and increasing enjoyment and safety for skiers and snowboarders.

And, after observation of burn planning and operations, I was able to sign off the first New Mexico Certified Pile Burn Manager workbook, recommending Brian Foley, Pajarito Chainsaw and Pile Burn Crew volunteer for 30 years, for final certification. “This example is newsworthy as one of the first in the state of New Mexico” says Wendy Servey, Los Alamos Deputy Fire Chief of Operations, adding that “with the collaboration of many… we can all rest a bit easier.”

The progressive legislation, hard work, and collaborative effort that went into building the foundation for the successful implementation of this burn, and hopefully many more, is a ray of hope. This success can, and must, light the way for many more small but significant steps towards increased landscape and community resilience to high-severity wildfire in New Mexico.

Brian Foley successfully planned and managed the 2024 Pajarito Winter Pile Burn, becoming the first to complete both the training and the workbook. He is now a New Mexico Certified Pile Burn Manager. Photo credit: Pajarito Volunteer Chainsaw Crew.

Growing a Network of Bird-Friendly Foresters: Audubon’s Forester Training and Endorsement Program

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Tim Duclos

The northern forest is home to some of the richest bird communities in North America. Healthy forests are essential for both resident and migratory birds, and stewarding forests with birds in mind can benefit biodiversity, climate resiliency, and carbon dynamics. Birds serve as a powerful vehicle for broader conservation goals, especially with the public. This concept has long driven the Foresters for the Birds (FFtB) program , and it now propels the next chapter of Audubon’s efforts through the Audubon Forester Training and Endorsement Program (FTEP) .

The Foresters for the Birds program, established in 2008 through a partnership between Audubon Vermont and the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation, aims to keep forests as forests and common birds common by helping landowners integrate timber and songbird habitat management practices. Audubon Vermont developed the Foresters for the Birds Toolkit —guides for both landowners and foresters—which provides information on priority birds, habitat needs, and forest stewardship practices.

The program has since expanded beyond Vermont and into other National Audubon state and regional programs, and with support from the Forest Stewards Guild, reaching Maine, the Southeast, Northwest, Lake States, and the Pacific West . To date, hundreds of foresters and natural resource professionals have participated in FFtB training and concepts. For Audubon, the next chapter of this work is the Forester Training and Endorsement Program .

Building on the FFtB foundation, the FTEP seeks to foster enduring partnerships across a network of foresters working to ensure the application of bird-friendly management practices at scale. Birds are a compelling tool to engage landowners, as they are diverse and charismatic- as well as readily observable indicators of forest ecosystem health; birds represent many of the principles we aim to support through the application of ecological forestry.

Once trained and endorsed, foresters participating in the program report back to Audubon, offering valuable feedback on successes and challenges. Audubon stimulates interest in bird-friendly forest management through landowner education, creating a positive cycle where foresters’ expertise, formally recognized by Audubon, matches landowners’ growing desire to manage their lands for birds, altogether strengthening the partnership between foresters, landowners, and Audubon.

The endorsement process is straightforward and can be completed at your own pace, either in person or independently. Audubon endorsement is currently available through state and regional offices in Vermont , New York, Connecticut , and Pennsylvania . We offer foresters the ability to complete the process on their own by watching a 4-part video series with questions and a management scenario. As a final step, foresters then submit two example management plans demonstrating the application of the program’s principles. Audubon works closely with each forester to ensure these plans reflect the program’s core principles. All trainings offer Society of American Foresters (SAF) continuing education credits. Periodically, we host in-person trainings as well.

Once endorsed, Audubon promotes foresters’ services to our landowner network. Endorsed foresters must also participate in annual continuing education training as well as report annually on their management activities benefiting birds. FFtB landowner and professional workshops hosted by the Forest Stewards Guild across the country satisfy required continuing education requirements .

As we face climate and biodiversity crises, collaboration and education are more vital than ever. Forest management is a powerful tool for restoring ecosystem integrity in the face of these threats. Working together, we can bridge science with practice to meet landowner values, contributing to large-scale conservation goals. Join us in supporting bird-friendly practices that enhance forest health—whether by becoming trained as a forester, promoting the program, or learning more about the intersection of forests and birds.

In Vermont , New York, Connecticut , and Pennsylvania we encourage you to reach out to Audubon in these states to learn more. For those outside these states, the Forest Stewards Guild can help point you in the right direction.

The FTEP represents a critical step toward ensuring our forests remain resilient and healthy, supporting bird populations and the broader ecosystem. By training a new generation of foresters and empowering landowners to manage their lands for birds, we are shaping a future where conservation is a shared responsibility. Audubon looks forward to continuing its partnership with the Forest Stewards Guild to connect with members and empower them to promote healthy forests—and the birds that call them home.

Advancing Hardwood Viability: The Role of Foresters in Wood Origin Testing

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Phil Guillery

The U.S. hardwood industry stands at a critical juncture. With global markets demanding greater transparency and responsible practices, the ability to verify the origin of hardwood products has become essential. The US Forest Service International Programs and Trade is working with technologies such as Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, and Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (SIRA) to develop new solutions, enabling precise identification of geographic origin. These advancements rely on a robust database of reference samples, which foresters are uniquely equipped to provide.

The Science Behind Wood Origin Testing

Wood origin testing uses chemical analyses to identify unique signatures, or “profiles,” derived from stable isotopes and trace elements naturally occurring in plants. LIBS, a new technology for the identification of the origin of wood, offers significant advantages for field applications. Its portability and capacity for near real-time results make it potentially ideal for on-site screening at factories, forests, or log yards. With sufficient reference material, LIBS can identify the harvest location of wood products within a 40-mile radius.

The implications of such precision are profound. These technologies provide the industry a potential means to meet stringent international regulations, such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Lacey Act, while also distinguishing U.S. hardwoods in the global market. By verifying the origin of products, stakeholders can ensure compliance, combat illegal logging, and reinforce the reputation of U.S. hardwoods as a responsibly sourced and legally harvested material.

The Essential Role of Foresters

Foresters play a pivotal role in building the reference databases necessary for these technologies to succeed. Their expertise in species identification and access to forests and harvest sites makes them indispensable to this effort. Sampling involves collecting wood cores from living trees using increment borers or “cookies” from log ends at sawmills and log yards. These samples are then analyzed to map the chemical signatures of different wood species across regions.

The data collected by foresters underpins the accuracy and reliability of wood origin testing. A comprehensive reference library in underway for the technologies like LIBS and SIRA, enhancing the industry’s ability to trace wood to its source and differentiate U.S. hardwoods from less sustainable alternatives.

Implications for the Hardwood Industry

The adoption of wood origin testing offers substantial benefits to the hardwood industry. It provides scientific validation for the legality and sustainability of U.S. products, bolstering their appeal in international markets. This capability also addresses concerns about illegal logging, which disrupts markets and contributes to global deforestation.

Moreover, the integration of origin testing into supply chains aligns with broader efforts to enhance traceability and transparency in forestry management. As consumer demand for sustainable products grows, this technology can position the U.S. hardwood industry as a leader in responsible forestry practices and enable a new level of transparency.

Opportunities for Collaboration

Foresters interested in contributing to this initiative can play an active role in shaping the future of wood traceability. By participating in sample collection efforts, foresters support the development of a cutting-edge system that benefits both the industry and the environment. The Forest Stewards Guild and USFS are discussing ways that the Guild and Guild members can support the collection of reference samples. Stay tuned for a webinar where you can learn more about the work and find out how to participate.

This project represents a convergence of scientific innovation and practical forestry expertise. By collaborating, Guild members can help ensure the integrity of U.S. hardwood production while advancing responsible and legal forestry practices.

Welcoming Michelle Giles to Forest Steward Guild staff

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Michelle Giles

February 2025

Michelle Giles joined the Guild in January 2025 as the Northeast Region Coordinator. She comes to us after graduating from the Field Naturalist Program at the University of Vermont and working with the State of Vermont’s Forests, Parks, and Recreation Department as a Seasonal Forestry Technician. She spent that season digging water bars, managing invasive species, clearing culverts, conducting forest inventory, bucking logs, and petting as many trail-walking pups as possible.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Michelle is, of course, an accomplished jug-handle navigator and a lifelong Bruce Springsteen fan. As a child, she dreamed of being a fashion designer, zookeeper, recycling sorter, and veterinarian all at once. As a young adult, she worked as a medical assistant in family medicine and pediatrics, where she proudly administered hundreds of COVID-19 vaccines before pivoting to further her education.

A first-generation, returning adult college student, Michelle’s graduate work focused on addressing inequities in outdoor accessibility and highlighting the scientific value of urban natural areas. Urban ecology has been a long-standing passion, having lived in and explored the vibrant natural spaces of Chicago and Washington, D.C. Her interests are diverse, including star-nosed moles, lichens, grunge music, pigeons, coarse woody debris, strength training, galls, audiobooks, slime molds, and variable density thinning forest management.

Michelle is a fast walker, a sock darner, a library explorer, and someone with a vast collection of song lyrics ready for any occasion (Did you say “So…”? Because “I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want”). She’s excited to channel her love of learning and the outdoors into ongoing and new projects in the Northeast, including supporting the Sustaining Ash Partners Network and long-term ecological monitoring work in National Wildlife Refuges. She looks forward to meeting you out there!

From Northeast Program Manager Rachel Swanwick: “We’re excited to have Michelle join our team in the Northeast. Michelle brings an enthusiasm for ecological forestry, valuable experience, and will add much needed capacity to help grow our programming in the region. Welcome Michelle!

The Ninth American Forest Congress

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

The first U.S. American Forest Congress was in 1882 and focused on tree planting in conjunction with the first National Arbor Day. Now we’re looking forward to the Ninth American Forest Congress this summer and a whole new set of challenges. To understand the opportunity of this Forest Congress and the role the Guild can play, it is worth looking back to passed congresses.

Since 1882, periodic American Forest Congresses have targeted the forest issues of the day and led to significant changes. President Roosevelt addressed the Second Congress in 1905 and called for a national forest reserve and a federal agency to manage those forests, helping to spur the creation of the U.S. Forest Service. The Third Congress in 1946 charted a course to use our forests to meet the nation’s post-war needs while simultaneously continuing long-term recovery. To modern readers, statements from the Sixth Congress in 1975 hint at trouble brewing, or at least hubris. For example:

“I trust we can all agree that man—and especially we as managers and stewards of the resources entrusted to us by the public or our stockholders — must continue to exert influence over the natural process into which we long ago thrust ourselves.”

This confident and controlling approach was challenged by the evidence of ecological damage and the rise of the environmental movement. Twenty years later, a different approach was needed for the Seventh Congress. The breadth and diversity of participation at the Seventh Congress in 1996 far exceeded the previous six. In fact, it may still be the most diverse national forest-focused gathering in our history. Leading up to the Sixth Congress, 51 local roundtables and 43 collaborative meetings contributed to the vision and principles of the Congress.

The Seventh Congress was an important turning point in the modern history of forests and forestry because it built bridges and emphasized collaboration. Participants worked to escape the polarized framing of the ‘timber wars’ and focus on zones of agreement not unanimity. They used a process that avoids the agree/disagree dichotomy by adding a middle choice ‘I may not like it, but I can live with it’. For example, 976 of the 1,007 participants were at least willing to live with the statement:

In the future, our forests will be held in a variety of public, private, tribal, land grant, and trust ownerships by owners whose rights, objectives, and expectations are respected and who understand and accept their responsibilities as stewards.

Other statements were more controversial. For example, only 54% of participants were very comfortable the principle that:

In the future, our forests will be managed on the basis of a stewardship ethic with respect, reverence, and humility.

The Seventh Congress helped spur the creation of the Communities Committee , which focused on the interdependence of America’s forests and the vitality of communities. The Guild didn’t exist as a fully-fledged organization at the time of the Seventh Congress, but we have grown to embody many of the shared values that emerged from the Congress such as:

In the future, our forests will be shaped by natural forces and by human actions that reflect the wisdom and values of an informed and engaged public, community and social concerns, sound scientific principles, local and indigenous knowledge and the need to maintain options.

While there were numerous calls for the Congress to reconvene at the regional or national level to build on the broad zone of agreement identified, another American Forest Congress wasn’t called for 26 years.

The 2022 congress was the Women’s Forest Congress . The Congress was designed to inspire and empower women and was the culmination of years of work by women leaders who know it was time for a space dedicated to elevating the voices of women in forestry. Women’s Congress sessions highlighted the important role that women landowners play in forest stewardship. The Congress program flowed through an arc of experience woven of the five themes: Leadership for Equity and Inclusion; Workforce Opportunities for Increasing Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement; Women as Catalysts for Change; Addressing Today’s Greatest Forest Challenges; and Supporting Each Other.

The Ninth Congress comes at a time of significant stress for forests. The damaging impact of uncharacteristically sever wildfires, novel insect outbreaks, and shifting precipitation regimes hardly needs to be reiterated here. The organizers’ goal is to convene 500 forestry professionals and leaders for three days to identify transformative actions for the next century of forest stewardship. Their goal is to invite new perspectives, broaden cross-sector collaboration, explore innovations, and tackle persistent barriers to our capacity, workforce, economic, and stewardship goals.

This is perfect timing for the Guild as we celebrate our 30th anniversary and look toward our next 30 years of expanding, positive impact. Like in 2022, Guild staff are helping with the planning efforts for the Ninth Congress. We will ensure your values and experience are represented. Stay tuned, as we will share updates and insights with members as the Ninth Congress takes shape for July 15 – 18, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Welcome our 30th year Membership and Policy Council!

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson

What an exciting time to be in the Guild and serving on the Membership and Policy Council ! Not only is it the Guild’s 30th birthday in 2025, but this is yet another year when the need for the Guild is obvious. Our forests are being challenged from every side. There are solutions, many of which we will learn from forests themselves, and the Guild is here to listen, understand, provide a voice, and work tirelessly for the future of forests and all who depend on them. Our Membership and Policy Council has identified a few ways they will contribute in 2025. These include: 1) continued work on Policy Statements related to Old and Mature Forest Stewardship, 2) more opportunities to connect members with their MPC in educational opportunities and discussions, 3) a focus on uplifting small forest industry, and 4) tending to member needs and next-generation steward support by helping Guild staff with membership-related tasks and initiatives that have been in the hopper for a while.

Please visit the Membership and Policy Council page on our website and get to know these dedicated members. They are your representatives, and the Guild is honored and grateful for them!

Incoming to our MPC:

Thank you to everyone who nominated candidates, who ran for election, and who voted in late 2024. Your two newest Council members are Malloree Weinheimer and Jeffrey Smith. Here is a little bit about them:

Malloree Weinheimer, in Townsend, Washington, started her company Chickadee Forestry LLC in 2018 after spending a decade working for public entities in forest ecology and research. She is passionate about demonstrating that business can be a force for good, rethinking the way we value forest products and simultaneously support the environment, community, and economy, and she is always looking for ways to support the next generation of foresters coming into this field. Malloree shared, “As a small business owner coming from a conservation background, I am very conscientious of ensuring that we are managing forests and creating jobs that are living wage and attractive for the next generation. I am also deeply passionate about supporting more women, minorities, and underrepresented communities coming into this field and feeling welcome.”

Jeff Smith, in Thetford, Vermont, is a semi-retired forester who has been developing and honing his skills in the woods of Vermont and New Hampshire for over 40 years. As a “dirt forester”, his work has always been field oriented, working on private and municipal properties and land owned by conservation groups. Jeff has the distinction of coming up with the name “Guild” during the original gathering at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina! For the past 15 years, Jeff has worked as a sole proprietor of his business, Butternut Hollow Forestry, which he recently turned over to a close friend colleague. Jeff said, “The many threats to the forest are real, but well-sourced forest products will continue to be needed. Thoughtful and humble foresters who incorporate both art and science in their work are ideally suited to balance the needs of the forest with the needs of society, and we need more of them. I am proud to be a founding member of the Forest Stewards Guild.”

Good wood for lifetime members

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

When the Guild wanted to provide plaques for our lifetime members, we knew just any old wood wouldn’t do. We needed wood from a well-managed forest. We needed to support sustainable industry. Sustainable Northwest Wood (SNW Wood) was an obvious choice.

At the recent Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit , Ryan Temple, founder and president of SNW Wood said, “Sure we can get you some nice, local wood for plaques.” Making the connection between customers and sustainable wood is exactly what SNW Wood has been doing for 15 years. Their goal is to make it easy to find local, sustainable, and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood products. In this way, they are a bridge between responsible sourcing and the built environment. Sustainability is at the core of SNW Wood and connects their efforts to protect and restore ecosystems, to salvage and upcycle wood from the waste stream, and to create economic opportunities when supplying the wood products our community needs. One example is a signature program for SNW Wood, which uses western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) from restoration thinnings. In the past, ranchers cut the trees and burned juniper as they restored the native grasslands, but today SNW Wood and other dedicated groups are nurturing markets to ensure that this beautiful wood is put to use. In general, the junipers that are cut and milled are the smaller, younger trees that have sprouted since fire suppression while the older, grander trees are left. In addition to providing naturally rot- and decay-resistant wood for decks, garden beds, and beautiful interior applications, the program provides jobs in rural communities. SNW Wood is part of Sustainable Northwest , a long time Guild partner. They work closely with other companies familiar to the Guild community such as Roseburg and Collins.

While we didn’t track individual logs, SNW Wood gets most of the big leaf maple like the pieces used for the lifetime member plaques from Northwest Hardwoods in Chehalis, Washington. It is all FSC mix credit certified from a diversity of landowners in southwest Washington. These are mostly small family forest owners and many of them are part of Northwest Natural Resource Group’s group FSC chain of custody.

One family forest that has sent truckloads of big leaf maple to Northwest Hardwoods is Wild Thyme Farm near Oakville, Washington. John Henrikson is part of the family that manages Wild Thyme Farm and also attended the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit. His philosophy will make sense to Guild members across the country:

“Wild forest management involves maintaining our forest in the most natural and vigorous condition possible. Natural forestry allows high quality trees to grow to maturity. Timber is harvested from suppressed, damaged and downed trees. The ultimate objective is an ecosystem dominated by big trees with structural and biological diversity, while providing steady income from high quality, selectively harvested timber – attuned to nature’s own culling process.”

The forest had been patch clear-cutting until the Henrikson’s acquired the parcel in 1987. Now it contains over 2 million board feet of timber in red alder, Douglas-fir, big leaf maple, western red cedar, western hemlock and grand fir. Wild Thyme estimates that over 100 years, their FSC-based management will result in 6,500 tons more carbon stored in their forests compared to conventional commercial harvesting. Wild Thyme is gearing up production and value-added processing so they will be able to provide maple and other species directly going forward (John also notes they are renovating their website so check back for an update on their management plan and lumber business).

All the connections and stewardship embodied within the bigleaf maple plaques make them a truly fitting marker of lifetime membership in the Guild. We honor the contributions our lifetime members make today, and for the future of forests, and appreciate SNW Wood’s products that help us express that to you!

Happy 30th Anniversary from the Guild’s Executive Director

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The Guild has achieved a true milestone. Most inspirational ideas never come to life and even fewer grow to become a national movement with a three-decade history of success!The Guild’s success story is particularly surprising because it is a true grassroots movement. From a spark of connection at a small gathering in 1995, all of you have created momentum and collective progress.

This is a big enough accomplishment that we’ll be celebrating all year long. And more importantly, we’re setting our sights on expanding our positive impact to more communities and forests over the next 30 years!

In fact, because good things take time, we’re going to extend the celebration right through spring 2026! Just like our 25thAnniversary Guild Gathering in Asheville, North Carolina in 2021, we are going to hold our big Guild Gathering in 2026 to ensure we do it right (we are planning on an event in the Northeast and will share a save the date as soon as a location is confirmed).

Leading up to the big 30thcelebration, we have a lot planned for 2025. We will have Guild Gatherings all over (and there’s still time to host your own with some support from Guild staff). We are encouraging members to host Guild Gatherings in their areas and several members have taken us up on that! Jack Singer of Pacific Forest Trust and the Guild’s MPC, along with Michael McDowell and Arcata Community Forest, are hosting a field tour fit for students and professionals alike in California in April! We have another member-hosted tour coming in June in New Mexico and a virtual retreat series in April too. Our student chapter in Alabama is going on a canoe trip to learn about the importance of forests for streams. Your event could also be a field tour, or an informal gathering of members and partners around a beverage or to discuss a book.

The Guild will host gatherings in conjunction with big events likethe 9thAmerican Forest Congress this summer (more information coming in the next issue of this e-newsletter). We’ll continue to have opportunities to connect online – we had three just this week:

a Guild discussion of the Telephone Gap Project on the Green Mountain National Forest,
an informational session about the Lingering Hemlock Project , and
a discussion of Biochar

Look for all of the recordings on our youtube channel soon.

Registration is now open for the opportunity to dive deep into the philosophy of old forests and your relationship with them in a 3-session virtual retreat in April!

With so much happening, now is a great time to invite your colleagues to join the Guild !

Written by Zander Evans

Fire in the Northeast?

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Some of us learned in school that the Northeast’s forests were nearly ‘asbestos’ and wouldn’t burn. This view ignored the ecological evidence and Indigenous stewardship and failed to acknowledge the swiftly warming climate. Last year was the hottest year on record and we are on track for at least a 1.5°C temperature increase (2°C is not unlikely). October 2024 was the all-time driest month on record for nearly 80 climate stations across the eastern half of the country – a surprise after the intense rain of Hurricane Helene. The drought in the Northeast combined with high winds to fuel wildfires – over 300 in New Jersey,150 in Connecticut, 122 in New York – as well as a 5,304-acre wildfire on the border of New York and New Jersey.

The Guild is responding to the increasing wildfire risk and continued need for the ecological use of fire for stewardship. As usual, the Guild’s approach is based on science, built through collaboration, and focuses on practical solutions. In fact, the Guild’s Polly Weigand traveled all the way to Ireland as part of the Internation Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference to share the latest science . The conference covered a wide range of key topics: fire behavior, fire regimes, fuels management, prescribed fire, smoke, air quality and health, wildland urban interface, social science, human dimensions, and Indigenous knowledge. The Guild co-founded and continues to help lead the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange (NAFSE), a hub for science sharing and collaboration between managers and researchers to create a resilient North Atlantic landscape.

As part of NAFSE and in partnership with New Jersey Forest Fire Service, the Guild helped host a training in May 2024 to build practical experience on top of the scientific foundation. The New Jersey Fire Camp was the perfect opportunity to provide college/university students and early-career natural resource professionals with developing technical skills through the ecological application of prescribed fire. The training included a walk through the forests guided by Stockton University Professor and Guild member Matt Olson. Participants conducted a prescribed burn, and many achieved their firefighter type II qualifications. The hands-on learning environment created at the Fire Camp contributed to a greater knowledge, understanding, and awareness of prescribed fire, ecology, and wildland fire concepts. Many participants indicated how beneficial it was to actually participate in the prescribed burn versus watching videos.

The Guild also helped put on the Northeast – Midwest Regional Prescribed Fire Science and Management Workshop, for wildland fire management partners across the 20-state region. There, we all shared region-wide, fire ecology information with the goal of expanding and maintaining the use of prescribed fire across all landscapes, jurisdictions, and fire-dependent ecosystems. The Albany Pine Bush Preserve lies within the unceded territory of the Stockbridge Munsee Community of Mohican Indians and at the eastern door of the Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Both nations suffered from the forced removal from much of their ancestral homelands. Research is documenting their stewardship including a 6,600-year record of oak, pine, and wildland fires. The field trip demonstrated ‘Shifting Paradigms in Restoring Fire Regimes in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.’ Since 1991 on the Preserve, management has focused on reducing wildfire risk and improving ecosystem health (composition, structure, function) by restoring altered fire regimes. As a sign of success, they have been able to overcome a range of challenges to help recover the endangered Karner Blue butterfly ( Plebejus melissa samuelis ).

The Guild is finishing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan for the Massabesic region of Maine. The plan builds on the learning and science collected in NAFSE as well as the Guild’s experience in the fire-adapted forests of the West.

Looking forward to 2025, the Guild with NAFSE and other partners, is looking forward to a prescribed fire training exchange in Maine . It’s all part of the wide breadth of work the Guild engages in to face climate and related challenges head-on, for the benefit of forests, ecosystems, and communities today and tomorrow. Though we take pride in this work and our role in leading forward movement in many of these areas, we gratefully recognize that it takes a whole community; within the Guild, among our partners, and among those who don’t have forests on their mind every day. Thanks to everyone involved, for their shared dedication and expertise to build a more collaborative and healthy future for forests and people. The Guild is honored to support the effort.

End of Year Update from the Guild’s Membership and Policy Council (MPC)

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Jan-Willem Jansens

Greetings! Thank you to all who voted recently for your newest MPC members. Your MPC represents Guild members in the organization’s work to 1) support its members, and 2) develop position statements and policy statements that clarify the Guild’s six core principles .

Want to know more? I can tell you about who we are. We are a group of passionate volunteers who care for forest ecosystems and the forestry profession according to the Guild’s principles. We come from many walks of life and demographics, represent various professional branches of forestry, and several forestry regions in the U.S. Presently, MPC members come from the Pacific West, the Southwest, Appalachia and the Southeast, the Northeast, and the Lake States areas. We give our time and experience to support you as a Guild member to become or stay connected with the Guild’s work and with other Guild members.

As the outgoing chair of the MPC, I want to offer a brief retrospective of the past three years of our work. I served on the MPC from January 2022 through this month. I have been a supporter of the Guild for its 30 years of existence and worked for its precursor, the Forest Trust, from 1993 until the fall of 1997. Looking back at the last three years, we gathered input for greater student engagement and encouraged the establishment of new Guild student chapters. We also advised Guild staff on implementation of the newly-established lifetime membership option. We helped staff encourage and support members to renew their membership. We researched a great variety of policy topics, such as a wildfire policy, silviculture for planted areas, plantation forestry, silviculture for natural forests, the 30×30 initiative, forestry and energy consumption, and support for tribal forestry connections in the Guild. We produced a position statement on Climate Smart Forestry and supported the publication of it as an article. We also supported Guild directors on an ongoing public outreach campaign with a series of webinars and a survey on mature and old growth forest stewardship. We are in the process of writing a position statement on this topic which we hope to release in the spring of 2025. Furthermore, we supported the Guild’s Board of Directors and staff in outreach about the Guild’s ongoing activities and policy conversations such as the focus on “full spectrum of forest management”.

The MPC is here for you. Please contact us and let us know how you connect with the Guild’s work, how the Guild can support you better, and how we can strengthen our Guild community. I look forward to crossing paths with you anywhere across the country in our efforts to promote excellent forestry.

Stay tuned, as your two newly elected MPC members for the next three year term will be announced in January!

Tree planting for global change adaptation: lessons from “early adopters” in the Northeastern US

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Peter Clark and Tony D’Amato – University of Vermont

Natural resource managers are tasked with stewarding ecosystems in the context of the complex challenges of global climate change. Given their key role, it is important to understand how or why management decisions are made and to understand the barriers and opportunities for management. Among various tactics used by foresters, tree planting has increasingly been proposed as a tool to address the challenges of global change (referred to here as “adaptation plantings”). Historically, foresters in the Northeast seldom relied on tree planting because, unlike other regions in North America, these forests have a propensity to naturally regenerate ecologically and economically desirable species. Yet, adaptation plantings have been proposed to restore culturally and ecologically important keystone species or ecosystems, diversify composition to promote resilience, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and adapt forests to a warming climate via assisted migration.

Due in part to the novelty of some of these practices, information is lacking on how foresters are engaged with adaptation plantings. To better understand this, a team of researchers surveyed managers to assess perspectives, applications, and barriers associated with tree planting for adaptation in the Northeast. This team was led by Drs. Peter Clark and Tony D’Amato from the University of Vermont, along with collaborators from the USDA Forest Service, the Northern Institute for Applied Climate Science (NIACS), and the University of Minnesota. The team specifically focused on a population of “early adopters” because, as has been demonstrated in other fields, the perspectives of early adopters of a practice can serve as an important litmus test to understand and refine the state of the art for subsequent users.

Findings from this work highlight that motivations for adaptation plantings differ, but generally trend towards planting to adapt to future conditions. Furthermore, respondents show a growing interest in and application of adaptation plantings, specifically the use of forested assisted migration among a suite of species. Assisted migration is a concept that has been more recently applied as a forest management tool given the recognition that the rate of climate warming far outpaces the ability of plants to naturally migrate by an order of magnitude, particularly long-lived perennials like trees. Yet, when it comes to assisted migration, the devil is in the details. Foresters in this study acting as early adopters report greater comfort with and application of some types of assisted migration like the movement of southern, climate-adapted seed sources of native species (“assisted population expansion”) or even modest northward movement of species found nearby along their range margins (“assisted range expansion”). Contrastingly, most survey respondents indicate discomfort with the notion of translocation of climate exotic species or the long-distance movement of plants that never would realistically migrate to sites over long time periods (“assisted species migration”). These nuances among the three types of assisted migration are important to distinguish, and foresters in the study apparently grasp these differences. Many respondents attribute these trends to increased awareness, acceptance, and interest in the practice.

Although this work points to growing momentum of the use of adaptation plantings to meet diverse needs in an era of global change, respondents still report many key barriers for successful planting efforts associated with biotic and abiotic (i.e., vegetative competition, browse), information and material (i.e., seedling availability in nurseries), and policy, social, and economic factors (i.e., funding). Taken together, this work points to a growing interest in and application of adaptation plantings among early adopters in the region, which may serve to refine the practice if/when this tactic becomes more widely used among natural resource managers.

Read the full study here:

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/forests-and-global-change/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1386211/full

Clark et al. 2024. Forest assisted migration and adaptation plantings in the Northeastern US: perspectives and applications from early adopters . Frontiers in Forest and Global Change

For additional background, see the featured article on page 6 of the spring 2023 edition of Forest Steward magazine: “ Assisting Tree Migration to Adapt to Climate” by Brian Palik .

Black Lake Prescribed Burn 2024 Summary

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Sam Berry

On Monday afternoon October 14, 2024, people in boots and green pants were geared up. Pumps were running. The first fire hit the ground in the top corner of the prescribed burn unit that this team had been making plans to burn for 4 years. What we called the Belly unit is 270-acres within the Black Lake area of New Mexico State Land Office (SLO) lands. The area has been managed for years to its current state as a beautiful mix of ponderosa pine savannah and mixed conifer forests with pockets of aspen. After a wet summer, thigh-high grass stood in most of the unit, obscuring the slash from previous logging operations that created the open forest. It was a prime example of a fire adapted ecosystem lacking fire, until now.

Many iterations of forest management have occurred here, including collaborative prescribed burns dating back as far as 2013. Many of the lower elevation areas have been burned already, but the rolling hill of the Belly was just a little out of reach. During the last burn in 2021 a mix of partners successfully burned to the south and east of the Belly, but the north line of the Belly bordered a thick drainage that hadn’t been treated and had the potential to turn any escaped fire in that drainage into a roaring head fire.

In 2023 the Forest Stewards Guild with SLO and partners from the Nature Conservancy and local fire departments including Angel Fire Fire Department, and Moreno Valley Fire Department, took a closer look at how to implement the burn and worked to prep the unit. Using a dozer line and moving heavy concentrations of fuel away from the lines to the interior of the unit to lessen fire intensity, we mitigated the risk on the north line. We were ready to mobilize in October last year but never found a weather window as an early, wet winter set in. We had to set our sights for the fall of 2024, and a redo of all of our preparations and public meetings.

So, on this more recent Monday afternoon, members of the Forest Stewards Youth Corps, freshly trained in wildland fire, with seasoned staff from the Guild, AFFD, Santa Clara Pueblo, TNC, and Moreno Valley Fire Department, stood by anxiously for the conclusion of briefing and for the first fire to be lit. The test fire went well with fire consuming the old logging slash and heating some of the surrounding trees, but with minimal scorching. The high grass that looked so flammable beforehand, had just enough green in its stems from the wet summer, to prevent it from burning as quickly as we expected. The test fire successfully showed us the deviations between our expectations and reality, and got everyone ready for burning for the rest of the week.

A cold front was moving in later that week bringing precipitation, and in the hours leading up to it, high winds that could test our control lines. Collaborative burns are tricky to get all the people and equipment from a wide array of organizations in the same place at the same time and have the weather cooperate as well. Our good forecast from the week before when we decided to mobilize was starting to look less than ideal.

After weighing the risks, and some long discussions, the burn boss from TNC, Jeremy Bailey, and his Trainee, Chris Romo from AFFD, mobilized us to continue from the test fire, and the firing bosses and holding bosses worked in tandem to bring fire along the flanks of the unit. With only a small chance of rain in the forecast we leapt into action and started creating our black lines along the edges of the unit. Everything was going great until that small chance of rain materialized in the form of brief sprinkles and the unit got wet enough that only the largest, driest logs and snags were catching fire. However, to capitalize on having so many people there and ready to work, a quick-thinking holding boss, Sarah DeMay, put everyone to work piling and burning heavy fuels along the edge of the burn. Our hopes dampened by not knowing if we’d get a chance to keep burning the rest of the Belly, this at least allowed us to burn up a lot more fuel that could cause problems with future burns in this unit. Since these forests experience fires as frequently as every 7 years, we knew our efforts today would benefit us when we come back to burn the unit again. The sprinkles ended as quickly as they started. The forecast looked positive for the next day.

The third day started with slightly overcast skies and tempered expectations. The sun just peaked out as the firing bosses (Will Joy from the Nature Conservancy and Sam Berry of the Guild), and their trainees resumed their plans to burn along the edges of the unit. Although the grass wasn’t burning, pockets of dry needles and slash were taking fire well. The sun came out in full force briefly in the afternoon and the winds picked up and we rallied to start sending burners through the interior of the Belly, to return fire to those big old ponderosas that probably hadn’t seen fire in a hundred years. Just as that organized grid of 10 ignitors made their way through the unit and were going for a turn back through, the fire effects monitors called over the radio that a storm was spotted moving our way and the first drops of rain started plinking on our hardhats again, sending our sprits down again.

The next day was spent securing the burn before rain chased us off the hill and made the roads too slick to drive. Although our fire effects were not what we would have hoped for, it was a good first entry to a previously unburned unit, and strong collaborative burn effort. The team of folks, some of whom had never been on a burn nor worked together, performed a smooth operation. We also removed a great deal of fuel from the edges of the Belly, where we had anxiously made plans earlier that summer for how to carefully apply fire when we had the worst fire behavior in mind. This makes future burning in the Belly a safter proposition. The burn was also a huge success with training of burn boss, firing boss, engine boss, and fire effects monitor trainees, plus many people learning a wide variety of skills, from using a drip torch, to effectively putting out a burning stump hole, and even how to avoid hypothermia in the wild swings of New Mexico weather. Although the weather is out of our control and less predictable every year, the foundation of a strong burn team is a wise investment to carry this work together into the future.

2024 Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit recap: Honoring the Past, Envisioning the Future

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The 2024 Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit (NIFS), held from October 3–5 at Camp Jonah in Trout Lake, WA, brought together forest stewards, industry leaders, researchers, and students to explore the theme “Forest Horizons: Honoring the Past, Understanding the Present, Securing the Future.”

Exploring Regional History and Management
On Day 1, attendees learned about the Native history and present-day relationships to land in this area, early settlement impacts, and current forest management practices in the Trout Lake/Mt. Adams region. This exploration provided a foundational understanding of the area’s rich cultural and ecological heritage.

Field Tour Highlights
Day 2 featured a field tour organized by local partners, including the Mt. Adams Resource Stewards (MARS). Participants visited various sites within the Mt. Adams Community Forest, examining sustainable management practices and collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing ecological resilience and community engagement.

Strengthening Connections Across Forestry Communities
Throughout the Summit, attendees engaged with diverse perspectives on sustainable forestry, connecting with peers from various sectors to share experiences and insights. The event offered ample networking opportunities, fostering an exchange of ideas on innovative practices that address both regional and global forestry challenges.

One NIFS 2024 participant had this to say about the experience: “ I wanted to thank you and the Forest Stewards Guild for your leadership in putting on such an inspiring and rejuvenating summit. I came away from the experience feeling very hopeful about the future of our forests and the people who relate to and rely on them. The emphasis on community and place was a big reason for that, and I applaud the planners and FSG for doing such a great job setting the tone. ” – Luke Dauner

The 2024 NIFS highlighted the significance of community, collaboration, and a forward-looking approach in ecologically and socially responsible forestry. We extend our gratitude to all attendees and organizers who contributed to the success of this event.

Written by Chanda Littlefield

Reflective Session on Forestry’s Future
The Summit concluded on Day 3 with a reflective session led by Cristina Eisenberg. This encouraged participants to contemplate the future of forestry, focusing on integrating Indigenous knowledge, fostering community-centered management, and developing adaptive practices to build resilience against climate change. Attendees engaged in discussions about the challenges and opportunities in sustainable forest management, sharing insights and exploring strategies to deepen collaborative efforts across diverse forestry communities.

Supporting the Next Generation of Forest Stewards in the Northeast

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Rachel Swanwick

This past summer, the Forest Stewards Guild partnered with The Nature Conservancy to launch the NextGen Forest Program – a summer apprenticeship that supports training and professional development for the next generation of forest stewards. Three college-aged forestry apprentices participated in the program launch. Myra Traves, Phoebe Weinberg, and Miles Plitt spent their summer traveling throughout Vermont and Massachusetts treating invasive plants (e.g., glossy buckthorn and Japanese barberry) and protecting native saplings from deer browse.

Through workforce development and training, the program promotes healthy forest regeneration and climate-smart forestry practices. It maximizes carbon storing capacity across our local forests. The NextGen team, mentored by Otis Wood from Long View Forest, planned and implemented forestry treatments across 10 privately owned family forest properties that spanned over 50 acres of forest lands.

To gain the skills needed to lead these forest resiliency practices in the Northeast, the apprentices participated in training for chainsaw safety through Game of Logging, received their herbicide applicator licenses, and participated in a drone training day. NextGen apprentice Phoebe Weinberg shared,

“I’ve never used herbicide or a backpack sprayer, never driven a big truck. And I had done a little bit of chain sawing before this, but never really on my own…So that was cool, and I felt safe doing that. Bits and pieces of everything were new. “

With this experience, the NextGen apprentices each wrote treatment plans, led workdays implementing their suggested treatments, and made suggestions for future management that can be used to guide the participating family forest owners in the future. These diverse hands-on experiences helped the NextGen team build their confidence and skills needed to pursue a career in forestry or natural resource management and “could really give you some direction,” Miles Plitt, NextGen apprentice says. “I feel like doing this I got a full experience of what working [in the forestry field] would be like, the conditions and environments I’d be working in…it certainly served its purpose. I learned what it would be like and now I have a more solid feeling as to what I want to do career wise.” In the Northeastern region of the Guild, staff are hoping to expand the successes of this program and continue supporting teams of forestry apprentices for years to come.

Reflections from summer ecological monitoring staff

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Collin McElroy, Zoë Morris, and Taylor Cain

This Summer, the Forest Stewards Guild hired a crew of two Ecological Monitoring Technicians to assist with the multiparty monitoring efforts within the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). The two seasonal technicians, Zoë Morris and Taylor Cain, traveled all over Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado collecting data on landscape health and forest treatment effectiveness. Both Zoë and Taylor did a fantastic job collecting quality data in the face of adverse weather conditions, long field days, truck problems, and many other unforeseen circumstances. Here are season reflections written by Zoë and Taylor:

“I took the job as an Ecological Monitoring Technician at the Forest Stewards Guild to be immersed in the landscape of the Southwest for the summer. My other primary work is as an educator in the forest of southern Louisiana, and I was eager to return to the Southwest to be in these dry forests and engage with the woods through a different lens. Doing field work for the Guild gave me the opportunity to thoroughly explore the landscape of northern New Mexico, getting to experience a diverse array of places. We performed several different protocols, including forest plot monitoring in the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests, sampling for traces of trout DNA in waterways, installing temperature sensors in streams for long-term study, monitoring for white pine blister rust in the rare bristlecone pines along the high peaks of the Sangre de Cristos, and using devices and gadgets to test water quality in the San Antonio River. Though it could be tiring and monotonous at times, spending a summer in the field doing forest monitoring helped me to understand the underlying ecology more intimately. I got to know which plants you were likely to find growing together, what kinds of environments different plants are usually found in; I became acquainted with the abundance and diversity of wildflowers, the difference between healthy and overgrown forests, where expanses of ponderosas grow densely and too packed in to grow tall and mighty like you might see them somewhere else. I grew to resent robust thickets of Gambel’s Oak, because for us this meant crawling on the ground through the snagging branches to measure the base diameter of each trunk.

“As I sat at our camp high up in the El Rito watershed and watched the clouds fly by overhead, illuminated by a rapidly changing spectrum of sunset color, I couldn’t help but feel privileged to be there. We were camped near El Rito to collect eDNA samples to understand more about the presence or absence of native and non-native trout species within the El Rito drainage system. Over the course of this week we faced torrential rain, nearly impassable roads, and countless steep miles of hiking, and I couldn’t have been happier about all of it.

This is just one memorable experience from my field season as an ecological monitoring technician with the Forest Stewards Guild in the summer of 2024. Although this season was barely more than two months long, it was packed with a variety of learning opportunities and adventure. My field partner, Zoe Morris, and I participated in work ranging from monitoring bristlecone pines for white pine blister rust with Mountain Studies Institute to collecting water quality samples in partnership with Amigos Bravos. It

seemed that we never did the same type of work two weeks in a row.

This position offered us the opportunity to explore and study many of the diverse landscapes that make Northern New Mexico such a unique and beautiful place. The primary focus of this study was to characterize the condition of forest land within the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project. Our work for the CFLPR involved establishing monitoring plots which will be regularly revisited to collect a variety of data from stands of trees in which a treatment (prescribed fire, thinning, etc.) is planned. This data will be used by forest managers to gain a greater understanding of the baseline health of these systems and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment methods.

I had just finished my first year of graduate study in the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico when I started this position, and it proved to be just the right dose of meaningful time in the woods that I needed. I learned a great deal throughout the course of this short season and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to participate in a project with so much potential to improve the lives and landscapes that make New Mexico such a special place.” – Taylor Cain, Ecological Monitoring Technician, Summer 2024

Thank you so much to Zoë and Taylor for their integral help in the Rio Chama CFLRP monitoring season!

Greetings from Elijah J. Small at the Guild

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

My name is Elijah J. Small, and I’m excited to introduce myself as the new Watershed Restoration Manager for the Forest Stewards Guild’s Southwest Region.

I was born in South Dakota and raised running through the last remnants of the tallgrass prairies of the Northern Great Plains. It was here that I developed a deep connection to the natural world. My journey into conservation started with walks with my mother through Camden State Park in Southwest Minnesota, 3000 acres of the last native prairie and sugar maple riparian forest in the Northern Great Plains surrounded by corn and soybeans. In kindergarten, I learned the word for biologist and quickly decided that was what I wanted to do with my life. I spent my childhood immersed in the wonders of the natural world, armed with binoculars, field guides, and microscopes and much to my mother’s chagrin sneakers that were always covered in mud.

I went on to earn a Bachelor’s of Science in Field Biology from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a Master’s of Science in Natural Resource Management from Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Go Cowboys! My career has been shaped by a desire to blend Western ecology and Traditional Ecological & Cultural Knowledge, while centering community-driven action to benefit both the land and the people who live upon it.

Before working as a biologist, I worked as a community organizer, focusing on environmental (in)justice, homelessness, and union organizing. That experience has given me a unique approach to how I view collaboration and conservation. I firmly believe that meaningful conservation work requires collaboration with the communities who live on and live with the land, not at them. This has been a guiding principle throughout my career. Collaboration with local communities, Tribal governments, and partners has been essential to making the projects I have been lucky to be included on in some way, long-lasting and effective.

As I step into my new role with the Guild, my mission is clear: to heal the land and, in doing so, help heal the people who rely on it. I believe that the health of our communities is inseparable from the health of the land. I look forward to connecting with many of you and working together to continue this important work.

Written by Elijah J. Small

Supporting wildland firefighters and a resilience workforce

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

The Guild is actively advocating for and building a resilience workforce, which means a wildland fire workforce that also integrates planting, thinning, and other restoration work. On a recent trip to Washington D.C., two Guild directors, Esmé Cadiente and Eytan Krasilovsky, educated policymakers on the critical benefits of investing in a resilience workforce. As the leader of the Wildfire Resilience Coalition , Esmé has been organizing a broad coalition of groups to ensure that practitioners have a direct hand in shaping effective policy, particularly around workforce .

While the Guild recognizes that firefighters are just one component of a broader holistic resilience workforce, they are currently at the forefront due to pressing issues around wages and retention. Wildland firefighters are the single most important resource we have for protecting lives, communities, forests, and grasslands from devastating fires across the United States. They not only provide safe and effective fire suppression but also play key roles in promoting resilience before fires and mitigating damage afterward. Today’s wildland firefighters are highly skilled and certified through a rigorous qualification system. They travel around the country, spending long stretches away from their homes as part of incident response teams. Wildfire management is inherently a collaborative effort, relying on partnerships between federal, state, Tribal, local, and volunteer entities.

Nearly 20,000 federal wildland firefighters work for the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture, making up a significant portion of the resources that respond to large wildfires across the nation. In July 2024 alone, almost 28,000 firefighters were engaged in battling 95 large fires burning over 3,400 square miles. The US Forest Service had 11,393 wildland firefighters on staff (GS-9 and below) in 2024, with an additional 5,000 higher-level positions augmenting this force. Similarily, the Department of Interior employs around 5,000 wildland firefighters. Beyond federal resources, state agencies, municipalities, and private companies also play a crucial role in the broader wildland fire workforce, contributing significantly to the nation’s wildfire response efforts ( see this recent blog from the Guild’s Maya Hilty for more details ).

In general, federal firefighters are paid less than their counterparts in private companies and state agencies. A 2023 study found that federal firefighter salaries lag behind state agencies by nearly a third. There is huge variation in wildland firefighter pay driven by experience, overtime, hazard pay, and role which makes comparisons challenging. However, low wages are a clear cause for recruitment and retention problems (see for example Belval et al 2024 , GAO-23-105517 ). Anecdotal reports indicate that attrition is worst among those with extensive experience who are most difficult to replace. Through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), federal wildland firefighters received a well-deserved pay increase. Now it is crucial that policymakers make this increase permanent.

While increasing pay for federal wildland firefighters is a necessary and critical step toward addressing recruitment and retention issues, it alone is not sufficient. Pay disparities for non-federal firefighters also require attention to ensure retention issues are fixed across the board and not simply shifted. Perhaps more important than salary is the constellation of other issues that make firefighting a stressful and hazardous job.

Even in the best circumstances, firefighters work hard in steep terrain, hot temperatures, dangerous environments, and under the stress of emergency situations. Firefighters deserve the best possible mental health support to respond to their exposure to trauma and life-threatening situations, long hours of physically demanding work, sleep deprivation, and separation from family during assignments. Currently, research suggests nearly half of wildland firefighters reported depression or anxiety (see Granberg et al. 2023 ). Because of their dependence on hazard and overtime pay, often firefighters are forced to take stressful assignments to ensure financial sustainability instead of taking time off for mental health, family matters, or other personal reasons. Not surprisingly, the work-life balance in firefighting jobs has a negative impact on morale. Groups like Grassroots Wildland Firefighters and the Woods Institute at Stanford have detailed proposals to improve the work-life balance and mental health for wildland firefighters.

As the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission noted in their report , we must invest in retention initiatives to stem the loss of highly trained and experienced firefighters. Similarly, we need to expand recruitment strategies and create efficient hiring pathways that support the development of a larger, more diverse, and inclusive workforce. To build on recruiting, we need to create and fund interagency training and development opportunities for fireline leadership roles, particularly those requiring higher experience levels and qualifications. We must also bolster the year-round firefighting workforce able to work on fire mitigation and recovery, including an expansion of prescribed burning, in addition to responding to fires. According to data from 2022, half the federal wildland firefighting workforce is only employed seasonally, for a maximum of six months.

Another critical issue that requires a holistic approach to land management and workforce challenges is housing. Building a robust wildfire and resilience workforce requires significantly increasing access to permanent, temporary, and seasonal housing options. Housing shortages, especially in rural and wildfire-prone areas, have become a major barrier to recruitment and retention of firefighters and other land management professionals.

Long-term wildfire resilience depends on the wildland fire workforce before, during, and after wildfires occur. This includes activities like prescribed burning, hazardous fuels reduction, post-fire restoration, replanting, and watershed protection. Access to temporary and affordable housing not only supports firefighters on the front lines but also those involved in these broader land stewardship activities that enhance forest health and mitigate future wildfire risks. The Guild will continue to advocate for policies that support firefighters and their crucial role in stewarding forests across the country. This includes pushing for workforce investments that address wage parity, housing availability, and building the broader resilience workforce.

Celebrating Guild member Bob Perschel

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Founding Guild member, Bob Perschel, is retiring after 12 successful years at the New England Forestry Foundation. While we celebrate Bob’s career, it is also a chance to welcome NEFF’s new Executive Director, Ryan Owens ! We look forward to working with Ryan and the rest of the NEFF team.

Not only was Bob a founding member of the Guild, but he served as the first Northeast Director, helping to start the Guild expansion of project work beyond the Southwest. In 2007, he authored the Guild report Climate Change, Carbon, and the Forests of the Northeast and helped craft the Guild’s Policy Statement the following year, which made the Guild the first forestry organization to recognize the anthropogenic drivers of climate change. Bob brought both the practical insights from his work as a forester as well as a passion for forests’ intrinsic value amplified by his time at the Wilderness Society.

His work on climate change continued at NEFF as he helped the organization step up to national leadership on forest-based climate solutions. NEFF’s Climate-Smart Commodities project, funded by a $30 million award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is a signature element of this cutting-edge climate work and is designed to both help forest landowners implement climate-smart forest practices and build markets for climate-smart forest products.

Bob continues to be a deep thinker on forests in a changing world as evident in his recent article Beyond the Beyond. The article builds on the influential report, Beyond the ‘Illusion of Preservation ’ which is discussed in detail in this autumn’s edition of the Guild’s Forest Steward magazine.Bob asks an important question for the Northeast: What if we could increase the production of wood-based materials and use them to substitute for more climate-polluting materials like concrete, steel, and plastic?

Another piece Bob wrote recently is a poem inspired by a ProSilva meeting in Slovakia: Lie Down: A Forester’s Directive . The two pieces together are a wonderful encapsulation of Bob’s career because they include both forestry as a solution to real-world problems and the more philosophical element, the inspiring ‘spark’ which is signature “ Guild .”

Thank you Bob, for your inspiration and all you do for forests and the communities who depend on forests.

Written by Zander Evans

Ecological Incentives for Reestablishing Indigenous Influences in Northeastern Forests

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

There are many good reasons to support the emerging global and regional emphasis on sustainable forestry. ¹ The ecological benefit to be gained from bringing back historical Indigenous practices to the forested landscape is not typically viewed as one of these reasons. ² It should be.

A straightforward definition of Sustainable Forestry is provided by The Rainforest Alliance, which co-founded the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in 1993 (an international body that develops and maintains a globally respected standard for managing forests and forestry businesses that meet strict environmental, social, and economic criteria ³ ): “The complete answer is complex, but if we had to reduce it to one word, it would be ‘balance’. The hallmark of sustainable forestry, from a purely ecological perspective, is the extent to which forestry practices mimic natural patterns of disturbance and regeneration. Sustainable forestry balances the needs of the environment, wildlife, and forest communities—supporting decent incomes while conserving our forests for future generations. ^3″

The key phrase here is “…the extent to which forestry practices mimic natural patterns of disturbance and regeneration.” What are these natural patterns of disturbance and regeneration in Northeastern forests?

We typically think of processes like flooding, wind, insect infestation, and fire as natural disturbances that have historically influenced our forests, but Indigenous activities such as shifting agriculture, hunting and gathering, and dwelling construction have also impacted Northeastern forests for as long as there have been Northeastern forests.

The Historic Range of Variation (HRV) for Natural Disturbance Processes
During the early 1990’s, a relatively new concept of historical range and variation (HRV), started to be described by patterns of forest disturbance and regeneration. This brought understanding of past spatial and temporal fluctuations into natural resource management. The HRV describes the change over time and space in the ecological condition of natural vegetation (natural community) types (4) and the ecological processes that shape those plant communities. The concept of HRV assumes that historical variation represents the broad envelope of conditions that supports landscape resilience and its self-organizing capacity. The HRV of natural disturbance patch area can be used to design the size and landscape location for harvesting operations that mimic natural patch characteristics) ⁴ .

Disturbance Patch Size and Frequency of Indigenous Activities
Local disturbance impacts of many Indigenous activities seem to fit comfortably within the relatively high patch frequency and limited patch areas associated with Northeastern Ecoregion Types. For example, activities such as seasonal dwelling (wetu) construction (which used cut tree saplings set in the ground, bent together, fastened with vines and inner bark rope, and then covered with bark or mats made of reeds), hunting and gathering (which typically used bows and arrows fashioned of tree saplings and knives fashioned from animal bone or antler), tools and technology (such as snowshoes and birch bark canoe construction), and clothing fabrication (primarily of white-tailed deer hides and fur of beaver and otter decorated with porcupine quills, feathers, shells, and naturally sourced paint), and cultural customs involving music and dance), all occurred frequently but tended to impact only small patch areas at any one time. Indigenous activities like shifting agriculture and prescribed burning may well have impacted larger patch areas, with burning in pine barrens communities within the Eastern Temperate Forest Ecoregion Type potentially affecting patch areas of multiple acres.

The Land Ethic as a Rediscovery of Indigenous Ethos
Like many natural resource advocates of my generation, I have read Aldo Leopold’s ‘A Sand County Almanac’ multiple times – originally in 1970 after participating in the first Earth Day activities. And while I have always taken Leopold’s famous “Cogs and Wheels” quote to heart, I failed to recognize the full scope of that concept until very recently.

Leopold contended that “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect ⁷ .” This was a bold new concept to descendants of colonizers in 1949 when A Sand County Almanac was published, but it was how Indigenous cultures of Northeastern forests had always seen the earth. I am exceedingly grateful to Aldo Leopold for his writings and will continue to enjoy them but have now come to see that colonial descendants like Leopold (and myself) were a little late to come to the land ethic party that has been celebrated continuously by Indigenous people for millennia. In January of 2021, Leopold biographer Curt Meine noted that “While Leopold did not explicitly recognize how the impacts of land exploitation fell disproportionately on the poor and on Black and Indigenous people and people of color, he came to believe that Western ethical frameworks had to expand to embrace land ⁸ .” Dr. Joshua D. Bellin, Associate Professor of English at La Roche College notes that “During his nearly fifteen years in the American southwest, Aldo Leopold came into contact with diverse Native individuals, cultures, and land-use issues. Though Leopold makes no explicit reference to how these contacts may have shaped his development as a conservationist and ethicist, contemporary scholars have begun to examine the relationship between Leopold’s culminating vision of a land ethic and the comparable visions traditionally expressed by Indigenous peoples ⁹ .”

Centuries of Indigenous activities like shifting agriculture, prescribed burning, seasonal dwelling construction, hunting and gathering, tools and technology, clothing fabrication, and cultural customs involving music and dance had perhaps unobtrusive but nonetheless consistent impacts on our Northeastern forests over time. If we want to practice sustainable forestry today and realize the ecological benefits of having the full range of natural disturbance processes influence our 21st century Northeastern forests, we need to reestablish the Indigenous influences that were brutally ended by colonization during the 1600’s and early 1700’s.

Thankfully, some initial efforts to reestablish Indigenous influences in Northeastern forests are already underway on some public and private forestlands. Examples include involvement by Nipmuc people with forest management planning and harvesting activities on Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust properties in north-central Massachusetts ¹² , interactions between the Nipmuc Nation and Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA ¹³ , cooperative efforts in prescribed burning between the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Biodiversity Initiative and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in southeastern Massachusetts ¹⁴ , and incorporation of Traditional Knowledge in fostering resiliency to climate change ^15-16 .

In addition, Nipmuc citizens are also working with state and local officials on collection of Atlantic white cedar from public lands for ceremonial purposes. However, problems remain as exemplified by a confrontation in 2023 between Nipmuc citizens collecting Atlantic white cedar from town lands in Natick, MA and local police ¹⁷ . Nipmuc citizens engaged in the collection had secured permission from the Natick Conservation Commission, but that permission had not been communicated to local residents or to the police.

My hope is that our Northeastern forest community of public and private landowners will collectively engage with and expand on-going efforts to reestablish Indigenous influences throughout our forests.

References
1. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). 2024. What is Sustainable Forestry? Practices and Benefits .
2. Dockery, M. 2021. Learning from the Indigenous Roots of Sustainable Forestry in the USA: Promoting Sustainability, Community Healing, and Partnerships.
3. Rainforest Alliance. 2016. What is Sustainable Forestry?
4. Keane, R.E., Hessburg, P.F., Landres, P.B., and Swanson, F.J. 2009. The Use of Historical Range and Variability (HRV) in Landscape Management . Forest Ecology and Management. 258(2009)1025–037.
5. Environmental Protection Agency (EPD). 2006. Ecoregional Regions of North America .
6. Lorimer, C.G. and White, A.S. 2003. Scale and frequency of natural disturbances in the northeastern US: implications for early successional forest habitats and regional age distributions. Forest Ecology and Management. Volume 185, Issues 1–2, 3 November 2003, Pages 41-64.
7. The Aldo Leopold Foundation. 2024. The Land Ethic: Uniting Ecology and Ethics by Living in Community with the Land.
8. Meine, C. 2021. A ldo Leopold’s Call for a ‘Land Ethic’ is Still Needed. Trellis.
9. Bellin, J.D. 2011. Aldo Leopold, Native Americans, and the Land Ethic.
10. Dawson, N. M., B. Coolsaet, E. J. Sterling, R. Loveridge, N. D. Gross-Camp, S. Wongbusarakum, K. K. Sangha, L. M. Scherl, H. Phuong Phan, N. Zafra-Calvo, W. G. Lavey, P. Byakagaba, C. J. Idrobo, A. Chenet, N. J. Bennett, S. Mansourian, and F. J. Rosado-May. 2021. The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation. Ecology and Society 26(3):19.
11. Eisenberg, C., Prichard, S., Nelson, P., and Hessburg, P. 2024 Braiding Indigenous and Western Knowledge for Climate-Adapted Forests: An Ecocultural State of Science Report. Univ. of Washington.
12. Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust. 2023. Cultivating Kinship in Forest Stewardship.
13. Harvard Forest. 2023. Indigenous Community Partnerships.
14. Town of Mashpee. 2022. Prescribed Burn in Mashpee Pine Barrens.
15. Massachusetts Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). 2023. Rooted in Nature: Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Resiliency.
16. Carr, J. 2024. Conservation and Community: Indigenous Land Management in Massachusetts. MassEnergize.
17. Natick Report. 2023. Natick vows changes following ‘really unfortunate incident’ involving Nipmuc tree harvesting.

Written by John J. Scanlon

HRV tends to change noticeably by broad ecological regions. Our Northeastern forests contain two major ecoregions: 1) Northern Forests (Beech, Birch, Maple, Spruce, and Fir); and 2) Eastern Temperate Forests (Oak, Hickory, and Pine), (Fig. 1)5. Natural disturbance patch frequency tends to be relatively high, but patch size tends to be relatively small in Northern Forests (e.g., ice storm damage each winter that opens forest canopy gaps of 0.1 – 0.25 acres), while patch frequency is typically lower but patch size is typically larger in Eastern Temperate Forests (e.g., microburst wind damage once or twice per decade that opens forest canopy gaps of from 0.25 – 1.5 acres).6

Likewise, I have always interpreted Leopold’s “land mechanism” to primarily include plants, wildlife, climate, and ecological processes such as water, nutrient, and energy cycling. But I never understood until now that the “land mechanism” in Northeastern forests inherently include people as well. I do not know if (but do not think that) Leopold saw it that way, but the fact is that Indigenous people have lived intimately with Northeastern forests as long as there have been Northeastern forests. It is not simply that Indigenous people lived in the forest – Indigenous people were and are of the forest, seeing themselves and their community as direct blood relatives of all the plants, animals, waters, rocks, and earth they share their ancestral forested environment with.

How Can We Reestablish Historic Indigenous influences in Northeastern Forests?
First and foremost, we should bring local Indigenous people to the table when considering land management goals and objectives for public lands. Second, we could expand or establish Stewardship Councils at the state and/or local level to encourage discussions between local Indigenous people and willing private forest landowners. Initial dialogues could be awkward and even difficult, but it is the right thing to do and is consistent with at least two major recent reports on the critically beneficial roles Indigenous peoples and Traditional Knowledge can play in forest restoration and conservation.10-11

Relational Forestry

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Guild members are actively contributing to the genesis, debate, and enhancement of ideas in forestry and conservation. Recent editions of Across the Landscape and an upcoming edition of the Forest Steward magazinehighlight How to Love a Forest , A Forest of Your Own , and Beyond the Illusion of Preservation . If you’ve written something other Guild members would enjoy or learn from – please share it with us!

Another worthwhile read is a recent piece authored by Guild member Austin Himes and his colleague Kyle Dues. The article Relational forestry: a call to expand the discipline’s institutional foundation appears in the journal Ecosystems and People and calls for transformative change in the traditional paradigm of forest management. The authors make the case for a shift to make forestry a more diverse and inviting field capable of addressing 21st century challenges. They identified an essential part of the transformation as a turn to relational values, that is meaningful human relationships with nature and among people through nature. Guild members are likely to recognize this idea of relational values even if the phrase is new. In part it is reflected in the Guild’s principles of interdependence (The well-being of human society is dependent on responsible forest management that places the highest priority on the maintenance and enhancement of the entire forest ecosystem) and intrinsic value (The forest has value in its own right, independent of human intentions and needs).

Of course, the concepts of interdependence and nature’s intrinsic values have a much longer history. As described in the recent report, Braiding Indigenous and Western Knowledge for Climate-Adapted Forests , values of kinship with nature, humility, and reciprocity, are foundational to Indigenous Knowledge systems. Dr. Eisenberg and coauthors explain reciprocity as both awareness (and action in response to awareness) that humans and ecosystems have shared needs. Reciprocity ensures “attention to mutually beneficial relationships between stewards and the land, plants, and animals they live among and rely on.” The use of the word ‘stewards’ in this definition will stand out to Guild members. Stewardship is at the heart of our community. Like reciprocity, stewardship is powerful because it implies responsibility, active engagement, and care into the future. In the Guild, it also signifies humility, with recognition that for as much as we know, we learn from forests themselves and rely on that wisdom at least as much as our forests rely on sound stewardship. The Guild’s national network of members, staff, and partners advance the culture of forest stewardship.

Editor’s note: for even more on these topics, view Guild member Jason Brown’s Communicating Forestry series webinar from January 2024, Guild staffer Colleen Robinson’s efforts at Nature’s Good Company, LLC , and more as members reach out to share their work.

Perhaps linguists or etymologists will quibble with the conflation of reciprocity and stewardship, but the connection is clear. In their article, Austin and Kyle make the point that “care and respect are a stronger foundation for sustainability than management based on exerting dominance and controlling ecosystems.” They go further to highlight that the control over forests that is foundational to standard forest management model is an illusion. While a level of control is possible in the short term, natural disturbances and the changing climate dispel the illusion of control. Their vision for forestry where relational perspectives and values are embraced and a wide range of practices are possible, from plantations to ecological restoration, seems to echo the perspective of many Guild members. The Guild has provided an important forum for the discussion of forestry and stewardship more broadly over the last 30 years and is uniquely suited to advance new ideas or reintegrate long-lived ideas.

Lake States Guild Gathering on Birds and Old Growth

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Christian Nelson and Mike Lynch

Lakes States Guild Members gathered for two days at the end of August for field tours, campfires, and inspiring conversation. The event was held at the beautiful and historic Kemp Field Station on the shores of Lake Tomahawk in the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest of Wisconsin.

We started on a beautiful late summer morning at the University of Wisconsin – Steven Point’s (UWSP) Treehaven field station to discuss prescribed burning, fire ecology, ephemeral ponds, the role and importance of beavers on the landscape, and how birds and other wildlife utilize and respond to different forest and fire management strategies and habitats. Treehaven’s Ecologist, Eli Anoszko, and UWSP Forest Ecology Professor Michael Tiller lead the morning’s session while UWSP Forest Silviculture Professor Michael Demchik lead the afternoon session with support from Ruffed Grouse Society’s Jon Steigerwaldt, Wisconsin Wetlands Association’s Tracy Hames, and the Wisconsin Center for Wildlife’s Jennifer Summers.

After the field tour we returned to the Kemp Field Station where Guild members were treated to a pot-luck style dinner and campfire before retreating to sleep in the 100+ year old lakeside log cabin.

The next morning, we enjoyed a birding and nature walk followed by breakfast. Refreshed, we heard a presentation by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forest Ecology Research Scientist Amanda McGraw on the Managed Old-Growth Silviculture Study (MOSS). The MOSS project is in its 17th year with study sites in three areas of northern Wisconsin. After the orientation presentation, we visited the Laura Lake site on the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest with the research group to see and discuss the forest management treatments in this northern hardwood stand. USDA Forest Service Research Forester Christel Kern and Wisconsin DNR Silviculturist Greg Edge led the group to several forest gaps to discuss the ways the forest has responded to treatments. They also covered the challenges posed by deer, Pennsylvania sedge, and invasive earthworms in recruiting tree seedlings and other plant diversity while creating old-growth conditions in a managed system. Discussions also touched on evaluating the value of a site from different lenses, such as forestry for birds and other wildlife.

Guild members had opportunities to share how they found and value the Guild community. It remains consistently apparent that Guild members contribute tremendously to each other and to healthy forests, through their work, knowledge, willingness to ask questions and ask for help, and resource sharing.

Thank you to all who joined us and for all you do for forests. We look forward to hosting again in the Lake States soon and encourage members everywhere to host gatherings of their own, whether it’s field tours or discussions over coffee, tea, hikes, book clubs, and more.

Editor’s note: an Instagram story on Guild social media and a photo slide deck on the Lake States Guild webpage will be available soon.

The Forest Stewards Guild Holds the PNW Guild Gathering at Zena Forest Products

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Forest Stewards Guild’s Pacific Northwest (PNW) Guild Gathering took place at Zena Forest Products in Rickreall, Oregon on July 31st, with a focus on hardwood management in Western Oregon. Organized and attended by our Pacific Northwest team, Rhiley Albee and Chanda Littlefield, as well as our Great Lakes director, Mike Lynch, the event attracted forestry professionals from across the state.

The day began with a field tour of the Zena Forest Products forestland, led by Sarah and Ben Deumling. They discussed their approach to Oregon white oak ( Quercus garryana ) management, sharing practical insights into maintaining and enhancing the health of Oregon white oak stands. The tour also included a visit to the Zena Forest Products mill, where Ben Deumling provided a detailed look at the process of manufacturing Oregon white oak flooring.

Mark Miller , formerly of Trout Mountain Forestry, presented on Oregon white oak restoration projects. He focused on the various approaches for restoring oak ecosystems, detailing the processes involved and the factors that make an area suitable for these projects.

Lilah Gonen of the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) covered management plans for the emerald ash borer and the Mediterranean oak borer, both of which pose significant threats to Oregon’s hardwood forests.

Glenn Ahrens from OSU Extension Services and the Hardwood Silviculture Cooperative provided a presentation on red alder ( Alnus rubra ) management. Attendees learned about the challenges and benefits of managing red alder, a species that often grows where it’s unwanted but has value in timber production and biodiversity.

Throughout the day, participants engaged in discussions, sharing knowledge and experiences related to hardwood management. The event was a valuable opportunity for forestry professionals to connect and learn from each other.

The PNW Guild Gathering at Zena Forest Products provided attendees with practical information on current hardwood management practices and challenges in Western Oregon. The Forest Stewards Guild will continue to support these important discussions in future events throughout the PNW. As always, we welcome members and partners to host Guild Gatherings too! We will help promote them widely.

Written by Chanda Littlefield

After lunch, the gathering continued with three presentations:

Collaboratively Building (local) Capacity to Reduce Wildfire Risk

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

In 2021, the Guild in partnership with the Maine Prescribed Fire Council, The Nature Conservancy, USDA- Forest Service, Maine Forest Service, Maine Army National Guard, York County Emergency Management Agency, and the York County Community College successfully secured US Forest Service Wildfire Risk Reduction grant funding. The aim was to advance the development of a Maine-Massabesic Region Community Wildfire Protection Plan and implement a suit of Wildfire Risk Reduction practices. This June, after many years of collaborative planning, the inaugural York County Maine Wildland Fire Academy marked a significant interagency collaborative achievement.

Six classes, including Basic Wildland Firefighter Training (s130-190), Portable Pumps and Water Use (s211), UTV Operator Safety, First Aid/ CPR, and Firefighter Type 1 (s131 and GT 131) were offered to provide the mandatory training, foundational knowledge, technical skills, and leadership training for beginning and early career wildland fire fighters as well as structural firefighters. Enrollment response was sufficient to host all the classes.

You may have wondered when the topic of wildfire was first referenced, why in Maine ? Indeed, the “way that life should be” state has the propensity to be scorched by wildfire. Especially in the Massabesic region of southern Maine. York County was chosen as the Academy location, being centrally located within the greater Massabesic region that extends into New Hampshire. It is a fire adapted landscape, which supports some of the highest levels of rare and unique species assemblages within the prominent sandplain grassland, heath, and pine barren dominated plant communities, making it ecologically distinct and more prone to wildfire than the more abundant mixed conifer forests commonly associated with these two states.

Building capacity for wildfire risk reduction through locally accessible wildfire suppression and prescribed fire management training via the York County Maine Wildland Fire Academy is the most recent accomplishment to be recognized under this wildfire risk reduction grant. Ensuring ready access to water resources by Fire Departments through the installation of dry hydrants; conducting fuel reduction and rearrangement through selective thinning and mastication within Kennebunk plains forests; and outfitting fire department staff with appropriate wildland fire personal protective gear are other funded initiatives. The final component, currently in draft, is the development Massabesic Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

Written by Polly Weigand

The week’s event was a resounding success! After all the fire line was dug, hose backhauled and rolled, pumps and hand tools stashed back in the cache, UTV operations concluded, CPR skills honed, practice fire shelters refolded (which is by far the biggest accomplishment), and required paperwork submitted, over 30 newly qualified wildland fire fighters (FFT2) were already eagerly anticipating the opportunity to step up to the fire line to put their new skills to work. Of the other 47 attendees who were already qualified as FFT2, a total of 16, 10, and 8 individuals completed s211, UTV operations, and First Aid/CPR courses, respectively. Equally beneficial to building capacity, 11 Firefighter Type 2’s were able to open their squad boss task book and demonstrate their tactical and leadership competencies to serve as a Squad Boss (FFT!),

The Massabesic Region of Maine also has a long history of large and catastrophic wildfires, including the “Great Fire of 1947” which consumed more than 200,000 acres, took 16 lives, and destroyed over 1,000 homes. As the second most populous county in Maine, due to its proximity to Boston, the region continues to experience a sustained risk of wildfire with the expansion of wildland urban interface, densely stocked forests, and high recreational use.

As the grant ends this fall, the Guild and the interagency partnership recognizes the significant investments and the value of the established collaborative framework. Impressive expertise, funds, staff, equipment, and facilities have been leveraged through this, and planning has started already for next year’s York Maine Wildland Fire Academy.

Bringing Experience and Innovation to Wildfire

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Wildfires have already burned over 5 million acres this year. Currently, nearly 29,000 people are working to control 77 active wildfires in the U.S. One fire in California, the Park Fire, has covered nearly 430,000 acres – an area larger than the city of Houston, Texas. Guild members know that fire has an essential role in forested ecosystems, but we also know that many wildfires are now burning with uncharacteristic severity, destroying homes and causing irreparable ecological damage.

The Guild brings our ethical foundation, place-based experience, and innovative mindset to wildfire challenges. We are supporting communities to reduce the threat of wildfire, training the next generation of fire managers, implementing forest resilience treatments, advancing fire science, and educating national decision-makers about policy solutions.

As part of the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, the Guild is working with community leaders to identify how residents can work together to make their homes and towns ready for wildfire. We collected and contributed to a donation of several thousand dollars to help one of the communities we work with, Ruidoso, recover from a devasting combination of wildfire and flooding .

The Guild’s Polly Weigand helped host the inaugural York County Maine Wildland Fire Academy in June (see the article about this in this e-newsletter edition). In New Mexico, another season of the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) is starting this week. By November, a new cadre of stewards will have the skills, ecological knowledge, and qualifications to be wildland firefighters. On the landscape scale, the Guild is a key partner in restoration and resilience implementation in places like the Zuni Mountains and the Rio Chama watershed . This means mapping treatment prioritizations, assessing stand conditions, working with loggers, leading and supporting efforts to put good fire back in the forest, and monitoring results. The Guild is helping with similar, ecologically motivated thinning both to increase resilience to southern pine beetle and reduce wildfire threat in the Massabesic region of Maine.

Importantly, we work hard to share what we’ve learned with others struggling with the same issues. For instance, a series of peer-learning discussions that shared successful tactics for implementing the federal Wildfire Crisis Strategy . Key take-aways included the challenge of implementing at the stand scale while ensuring landscape impacts. One solution was to build transparent partner engagement, at a range of scales, to accommodate local to national partners while minimizing meeting overload. The recent influx of federal funding has highlighted the need for multi-year grants and contracts to help organizations ramp-up over time. Successful efforts have found ways for new funding and priorities to tie into existing strategies such as Community Wildfire Protection Plans or Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects.

Along with our partners in the Wildfire Resilience Coalition , the Guild is taking these lessons learned to decision makers in Washington, DC. Thankfully, stewardship resonates with all political parties and our solutions are non-partisan. Building a resilience workforce and a sustained response to the wildfire challenge make sense to everyone when supported by science and real-world experience. Over the last year, the Guild’s Southwest Director, Esmé Cadiente led the Wildfire Resilience Coalition to advocate for wildland firefighter pay raises, which both House and Senate appropriations bills now include!

Wildfire is a perfect example of how the Guild combines practical experience, ecological understanding, innovative science, and an ethical commitment for holistic solutions. We are better able to support community resilience because we are well-versed in the latest fire science. Our FSYC training builds on real world experience with fire management and we have plans to get them hands-on live fire experience on Forest Service, Tribal, and Guild led burns before they finish the program. Through the Joint Fire Science Program Knowledge Exchanges, the Guild both contributes to and shares the latest fire science. Our policy work is firmly founded on science and our work in the woods. Each facet of Guild programs reinforces the others.

Showcasing Success: Fireshed Partners in the Field

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Alyssa Mineau

The Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition (GSFFC) is a collaborative group comprising tribal governments, federal and state agencies, and local partners, all committed to supporting forest and watershed management efforts in the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed. This coalition plays a crucial role in coordinating and leveraging resources to address the unique challenges of forest management in this region, where diverse ecosystems, fire risk, and community safety are interconnected concerns.

The GSFFC meets quarterly to update partners on current projects, exchange knowledge, and identify areas where greater collaboration or attention is needed. These meetings foster a spirit of cooperation and collective problem-solving, ensuring that the work done on the ground reflects the shared goals and expertise of its members.

During the third quarterly meeting on July 17, 2024, the GSFFC convened in the Sandia Ranger District of Tijeras, New Mexico, for a field tour of several recent projects undertaken in the Cibola National Forest. These projects, conducted through the partnered efforts of the New Mexico Forestry Division and the US Forest Service, focused on forest health thinning, forest stand improvement, hazardous fuel reduction around communities at risk, and other critical interventions.

The field tour brought together representatives from eight different organizations, each contributing their unique perspectives and expertise. The group visited five distinct project sites, where they engaged in in-depth discussions on lessons learned, best practices, and potential areas for future project implementation. The exchange of ideas and experiences during the tour highlighted the value of such collaborative efforts, not only in enhancing the effectiveness of individual projects but also in fostering a shared vision for the sustainable management of the region’s forests and watersheds.

Moreover, the meeting sparked interest in expanding collaboration to include more organizations, underscoring the GSFFC’s commitment to broadening its impact. By involving a wider range of stakeholders, the GSFFC aims to create more resilient landscapes and communities, better equipped to face the challenges posed by climate change, wildfire, and other environmental pressures.

As the GSFFC continues its work, the collective efforts of its members will remain vital in ensuring the long-term health and safety of the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed area.

To learn more, go to www.santafefireshed.org .

A Look into the Collaborative Efforts in the Zuni Mountains

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Daisy Smith

On June 5th, 2024, I attended the Zuni Mountains Collaborative – Annual Field Tour in west-central New Mexico. As a new intern at the Forest Stewards Guild, this was a fantastic way for me to better understand and observe some of the Guild’s important collaborative natural resource work.

The Zuni Mountains Collaborative (ZMC) started with informal partnerships between the Cibola National Forest, The Forest Stewards Guild, and multiple other stakeholders. As the partnerships grew and formalized over time, a structured collaborative was created to better steward the landscape in this region. These efforts paid off in a substantial way in 2011 when the Collaborative received crucial federal funding through a 10-year Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) award. The generous support of CFLRP and the hard work of partners warranted many positive outcomes. Some of these include the effective implementation of forest restoration treatments across thousands of acres, a robust monitoring program, and the creation of many new jobs. Since 2005, the ZMC has worked to serve and support a vital ecosystem and improve the livelihoods of residents in McKinley and Cibola counties with a progressive approach to forest management and natural resource work, driven by community stewardship and valuable personal and professional relationships.

The June field tour began at Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions, a private educational camp and partner of the ZMC. Guild staffers Rachel Bean and Mateo Pomilia gave a brief introduction and thanked partners, staff, and community members for joining the tour. Jordan Stone, executive director of Cottonwood Gulch, then described how in early October 2023, a cooperative prescribed fire was implemented at the camp with the aim of reintroducing regular fire to the landscape. Stone described the timeline, planning, and nature of the recent fire along with the challenges and enablers that make it possible to intentionally burn on private property to restore forest health. He detailed efforts to address escaped fire, smoke, and other concerns within surrounding communities, a special point of focus following the trauma of the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Complex in northern New Mexico. Eddie Baca, a ZMC partner and fire management officer with the Forest Service, described other collaborative efforts on past burns in the area that took place on federal land and how the Guild has been a key partner in improving safety and adding fire personnel, especially through the All Hands All Lands Burn Team. The discussion turned to the importance of special burning techniques to promote healthy soil and diverse woody material and ensure there is opportunity for proper age regeneration in the forest. The morning wrapped up with some final thoughts from partners about thinning and potential solutions for the surplus of wood left behind after trees are cut.

After a quick break for lunch, we continued to the next location, Bluewater Creek. Gathered under some shade with a view of the canyon walls and a freshly green riparian area snaking along the creek, we heard some more about the challenges and current undertakings of the ZMC. Range specialists Donald Serrano and Curtis Chee touched on the dynamic of livestock in the area and then explained the challenges of feral horses running wild on the land and the difficulty of removing them for the sake of the environment without serious pushback from the public. From there the discussion shifted to current wildlife populations in the area, watershed management, and the CFLRP’s approach to handling invasives. Guild employee Mateo Pomilia made a great point stating “Invasives are not necessarily the problem, it has more to do with how we move about the landscape, so not completely eradicating them, but learning to live with them.” The day ended with a quick activity of spotting and identifying native and invasive species in the surrounding creek and riparian area.

Observing the thought, planning, diverse expertise, and hard work that goes into the ZMC project was something that gave me a deeper understanding of the important efforts that the Forest Stewards Guild is involved in. It was especially neat to hear about how this project has changed over the years, the challenges that evolve, and the opportunities that emerge thanks to factors like climate change and new regulations. The unique nature of the ZMC project stands as a true testament to the power of collaboration in environmental management and forest stewardship, which works to preserve the natural heritage of the Zuni Mountains and cultivate a sustainable future for the communities that call this special region home.

“How To Love A Forest” is a new book by a Guild member

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Jack Singer

Ethan Tapper’s How to Love a Forest  should be required reading for every North American forestry professional seeking to make sense of degraded and declining forest ecosystems. Tapper begins by grounding his work in his own hard-earned experience as a forester. He relates the landscape of his life to glacial time and geological processes that shaped the Vermont forests he must now learn to love. He breathes life into each page with vivid imagery from the long days and seasons he has spent alone in the woods, and he colors in the workdays for the reader with insightful observations of the local plants and wildlife, and how they respond to his management of the forest he shares with them on Bear Island. As his days stretch into seasons and the years accumulate, Tapper expertly communicates the fleeting melancholy and nostalgia that every naturalist who comes of age during the 21st century’s biodiversity crisis is forced to confront.

As the pace and scale of these intersectional crises – climate change, income inequality, mass extinction – accelerate, foresters around the continent are inevitably faced with the complex set of variables and choices that Tapper faces unafraid in this book. By artfully weaving together natural history, indigenous wisdom, ecological trends, and global projections in such an approachable way, How to Love a Forest  unapologetically challenges the reader to respond to these challenges by looking beyond our preconceived notions. According to Tapper, we need to let go of what we think forests ought to be or how we think they ought to benefit our human society, and instead consider the intrinsic value of these mysterious ecosystems. 

It’s clear that Tapper was led to this work with his heart, but the intellectual research that underpins his writing on these topics allows him to move beyond the big, relatable emotions to create a truly valuable narrative. In a time of unprecedented ecological decline and rapid global change, forests and their caretakers are more important than ever. How to Love a Forest disavows us of false ecological dichotomies – timber harvest versus forest conservation, degradation versus restoration, decline versus rebirth – and instead recognizes that many of these processes, even those that cause us initial discomfort as human beings or foresters, must all coexist on a single forest property for the whole to function with integrity and resilience. Perhaps paradoxically, the author’s greatest and most memorable acts of love also seem to cause him the most personal pain and discomfort. By baring this all out with uncharacteristic vulnerability, Tapper ultimately succeeds in expressing that all foresters are now called upon to make impossibly difficult choices about forests and everything that they represent, even when the answers may be shrouded in culturally ingrained fear and taboo. This universal teaching is something that all foresters should take to heart, now more than ever.

Editor’s note: How to Love a Forest will be published in September, 2024. Pre-orders are tremendously helpful for overall success and are appreciated. For those who’d like to own a copy, preorder your book today . Thank you to Guild members Ethan Tapper, for sharing this incredible work, and Jack Singer, for reviewing it for us.

Lake States Guild Gathering & other old-growth focused events

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Guild involvement in old growth policy

The current national discussion around the old-growth forests is the perfect demonstration of why the Guild is so important. We’re adding to the national policy discussion, supporting Guild members who work for federal agencies, sharing research insights, and having the in-depth discussions among members that are so important for grounding the Guild.

A great example of members getting together for these important conversations is this summer’s Lake States Region Guild Gathering: Old Growth, Birds, and More! Kemp Station, in Wisconsin’s beautiful Northwoods, will host our event from August 28-29. We will highlight budding efforts in the region around Foresters for the Birds, with a unique perspective from more than 15 years of the Managed Old Growth Silviculture Study site. How does stewardship with birds in mind intersect with management for old-growth characteristics in these Midwest forests? The discussion with Guild staff and members, a whole team from the Northern Bird Network, and renowned ecologist Greg Edge is one you’ll want to be part of! Registration is open now. Please join us and spread the word!

Members from across the country have gathered online for a detailed discussion of the new Technical Guidance for Standardized Silvicultural Prescriptions for Managing Old-Growth Forests . The conversation highlighted the complexity of the topic and the nuances of terminology and ecological context. The Guild’s engagement is crucial because on June 20, the US Forest Service released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Amendments to Land Management Plans to Address Old-Growth Forests Across the National Forest System. A week later, a group of Representatives introduced legislation to nullify Executive Order 14072 and prevent the Forest Service from finalizing the draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The Guild, based on the expertise of its members, has a unique role in this national discussion. We can provide experience and examples of where a middle path leads through the debate. Guild members are experts in balancing ecological, social, and economic realities through artful stewardship. Nowhere is this more needed than in old forests.

Sometimes, it is refreshing to share and learn about why we all support this work in ways that aren’t so weighty. Now you can express this in the Guild’s summer photo contest ! We’re especially looking for compelling landscapes that include mature trees or old forest characteristics (though the contest isn’t limited to that).

Contest submissions are accepted now through August 31, 2024.
Voting will be online in the first half of September and winners are announced in October.
Submissions are likely to appear in Guild publications in the future!

Read the full contest details and submit yours today! Thank you to the PEW Charitable Trust for your support of this contest.

Photo Contest is on – please submit your images!

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Chanda Littlefield and Colleen Robinson

The Forest Stewards Guild, with support from The PEW Charitable Trusts, is holding a photo contest from now until September, 2024. You do not have to be a current Guild member to participate. Detailed submission requirements are available on the contest page .

Why:

Photos play an important role in communicating the value of forests, in the countless ways value is perceived. Photos also help tell our stories of caring for forests, and the results of that care. Old growth forests and their characteristics are an increasingly important focus of forest management for ecosystem resiliency, especially in some of our rarest forests. The Guild, with support from The PEW Charitable Trust, needs your help in collecting these images of the care and meaning you bring to forests every day. Plus, we think photo contests are fun! It’s yet another way to highlight the talents and contributions of our members, partners, and followers.

What to submit:

We’re looking for high-quality photographs from across the United States of compelling forested landscapes (if you follow the Guild from Canada or Mexico and have a submission from your home area, we’ll accept those too). We’d especially like photos with old or mature trees, and/or people engaged in active forest restoration work, such as prescribed burning or tree planting.

When to submit:

Submissions are accepted now through August 31, 2024.
Voting will be open in the first half of September.
All winners will be announced by early October.

How to submit:

Visit our contest webpage
Read the submission requirements and ensure your entry meets these
Collect and include the information required with your submission
Complete the entry form, upload your photo, and click “enter”
Enter as many times as you like
Please spread the word! Everyone is a winner when our efforts support forests.

Voting:

Guild members will vote among eligible photos entered. These images compete for one of four winning categories, determined by number of votes for photos in qualifying criteria:

Contest 1st place (wins a Guild sweatshirt or t-shirt)
Student photo honorable mention (wins a Guild t-shirt or hat)
Guild member favorite (wins a Guild t-shirt or hat)
Guild staff pick (wins a Guild t-shirt or hat)

Next steps for images…

All submitted images have a chance to appear in Forest Stewards Guild emails, e-newsletters, printed publications, and on our website and social media channels over time! We will credit these photos as you outline in your submission. You support the Guild with the gift of these images, as we communicate our work and impact across the landscape.

Questions?

If you have questions about the photo contest, please contact Chanda Littlefield at chanda AT forestguild.org

Women’s Chainsaw Workshop in New Mexico

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Women’s chainsaw workshops are impactful and empowering! The Forest Stewards Guild, Southwest office, with funding through Women Owning Woodlands, has now facilitated two of these workshops in Northern New Mexico. The first was a two-day event in 2021 that received rave reviews. We decided to try out a less intensive one-day workshop model for a second workshop this past spring. The students were required to complete the Women Owning Woodlands online Chainsaw safety course prior to the field day and it was this prework that made the condensed workshop schedule feasible. This online course is relatively new, and the students gave it positive reviews!

The workshop was held on private land near Tierra Amarilla, NM from 9:00-4:00, May 18, 2024. We had only 5 students attend, but they were all very motivated learners and the small group size and instructor-student ratio contributed to the success of the class. Students came from various backgrounds but in general expressed the desire and need to be more independent and competent with a chainsaw to more effectively and safely work on their own lands. The Tierra Amarilla area includes forest types such as mixed conifer, Ponderosa Pine, and Pinon-Juniper Woodlands. This is a very rural area, and forestry and ranch work are a part of daily life for many that live here.

The morning session was dedicated to safety, personal protective equipment, and a hands-on discussion of chainsaw parts, sharpening, maintenance, and mechanics. We provided extra PPE and chainsaws, and the students also brought their own. We discussed basic mechanics and maintenance for both electric and standard gas-powered chainsaws.

After lunch, we discussed and demonstrated handling, starting, and ergonomics. Kate did a felling demonstration which we then turned into a limbing and bucking exercise. The students all had 2 hours to practice starting, bucking, limbing, and standard safe practices such as OHLEC, kickback awareness, chain break use, and proper grip.

When asked at the end of the day to critique the class, the students all agreed that the small group size was a huge benefit and really allowed them to get the most out of a one-day workshop. They all had a great time and said it was very worthwhile, increasing both knowledge and confidence. Additionally, using the online course to condense the workshop into one field day made it more doable for both instructors and students. Overall, a very worthwhile and fun day in the woods for everyone!

By Sarah DeMay and Cora Stewart

The Guild launches Lifetime Membership

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson

Our 30-year anniversary is next year. From the beginning, we’ve known that our vision of ecological, economical, and socially responsible forestry as the standard for forest management from coast to coast requires collective effort from a strong, supportive community. Today, the Guild community is stronger than ever, and each member is continuously improving our collective knowledge, efforts, collaborations, and impact. For most of us, Guild membership is an expression of our:

core values,
willingness to think and act outside of the box to support healthy forests and all who depend on them,
gratitude for being in a community that is dedicated to the Guild’s principles , and
commitment to the people, ecosystems, and innovations that are essential to our mission.

With this at heart, we are pleased to announce Lifetime Membership with the Guild. Being a lifetime member is a convenience, because you don’t have to renew your membership annually. Yet, it’s so much more than that.

Check out what a few of our members said when presented with the idea of Lifetime Guild Membership.

An upgrade to Lifetime Membership can happen at any time. We believe all our members, not just lifetime members, are essential to our work, learning, and the ability for us to make the difference the Guild is here to make. Feel free to learn more, ask any questions you have, and become a lifetime member of the Guild today, or when it feels right for you. We welcome and are honored by you!

This frequently asked questions page  offers more information about Lifetime Membership with the Forest Stewards Guild. In brief:

Previously approved professional and retired professional members are eligible to renew as a lifetime member
A new member may join as a lifetime member, under the same application process as professional members
affiliate and student members can upgrade and apply
One Lifetime Membership dues payment ($1,000) keeps your membership dues paid through your lifetime
We’ll send you a lifetime member plaque (please allow several weeks for delivery)
Lifetime Membership is distinct from non-dues gifts and donations and does not apply to Stewards Circle level donations or Organizational Sponsorships.

We invite everyone who aligns with the Guild’s six core principles to   join  or  renew  now. We will continue to highlight your work, recognize your contributions to the Guild’s organizational impact and partnerships, and move forward for the health of forests and all who depend on them.

Guild Student Members Teach Forestry at Camp O’Rear

Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

As we followed a school bus into the valley of Camp O’Rear, I admired the familiar presence of the mixed woods forest. I had been here before to gather data on Eastern Hemlock stands, but I was here for an entirely different reason this time.

Today, schools from across Walker and Tuscaloosa counties were gathering at the camp to learn about forest ecology and measurements from members of the University of Alabama Forest Dynamics Lab. Seated in the hillside amphitheater, the students were given a crash course in forest ecology by our lab director and Guild student chapter advisor, Dr. Hart. Though many students appeared fully invested in his words, several seemed restless as well, and I really couldn’t blame them. I was eager to get into the forest too!

Additionally, being able to meet and discuss future plans with a wide variety of students, some of whom were interested in forestry, was amazing. By the end of our time together I had to leave the students with a bittersweet goodbye, but they left me with a reinvigorated hope for the future of the natural resources field.

Editor’s note: thank you to our University of Alabama Guild Student Chapter for your efforts. It’s worth noting that the feeling of hope these high school students provided you, is the same hope Guild student members inspire in our professional members and others in this community who are later in their careers. Supporting tomorrow’s responsible forest stewards is a tremendous gift to everyone!

You may also be interested in reading “ The Call of the Cahaba , ” which shares Lilly’s reflections from a spring 2024 University of Alabama Student Chapter event coordinated by Dakota Wagner, the Guild’s Southeast Program Manger.

Written by Lilly Roehrig, University of Alabama

After the lecture, we led the high school students to a stand populated with White Oaks, a fact that one student was quick to point out. While in the forest, we taught them how to establish a fixed radius plot using a hypsometer, measure DBH with a logger’s tape, measure height with a clinometer, and measure tree age with an increment borer. The students seemed particularly interested in the core that the borer produced, many of them standing alongside me to help count the rings. It was thrilling to pass on the skills I had been practicing throughout the semester in my forestry measurements class, as it felt like I had been in their position not long ago.

Silviculture of Old-Growth Restoration in the Lake States

Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The recent Mature and Old-Growth Summit in Washington D.C. has focused attention on the interesting science of mature and old-growth silviculture. During the event’s regional breakout sessions, I had the opportunity to present the state of this science in the Lake States and reflect on how the silviculture of old-growth restoration has evolved over my career.

As forest practitioners we appreciate the importance of context, and this certainly applies to managing old-growth in the Lake States. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan all fall at the intersection of the eastern temperate forests, northern boreal forests and tallgrass prairies, resulting in significant transitions in climate, soils, glacial history, and vegetation. This makes defining and managing old-growth or old forests vary depending on the wide variety of forest types found in this region. The “Cutover” period of the past two centuries has resulted in a legacy of predominantly second-growth forests. Wisconsin’s overall age-class distribution for the maple/beech/birch and oak/hickory forest type groups is very even-aged, with little young forest and even less old forest.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff estimates that less than 1% of all forestland in the three states contains old-growth by applying the recently published Forest Service working definitions to statewide Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. Therefore, the greatest opportunities to manage old-growth and old forest characteristics lie in these second-growth forests.

Much like the rest of North America, the 1980s and 1990s brought greater attention to old-growth forests and management in the Lake States. Craig Lorimer, Ph.D., and David Mladenoff, Ph.D., at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and Wisconsin DNR research staff began an effort simply known as “the old-growth project.” The first goal of this research was to compare the composition, structure, and function of remnant tracts of old-growth northern hardwood forests, such as those on Michigan’s Sylvania Wilderness, with that of second-growth northern hardwoods managed under even and uneven-aged systems. Lorimer’s lab found significant differences in structural components like snags, downed wood, large trees, canopy gaps and windthrow mounds. Differences were also found in functional attributes, like fungi and nutrient dynamics.

Around this same period, the arrival of third-party forest certification programs and the development of ecological forestry concepts hastened the establishment of state silvicultural guidance to address ecological aspects of old forests. This included state definitions for legacy trees, old-growth and High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs), and the development of tree retention standards in all three states. In recent years, ecological silviculture or forest management based on natural disturbance models has been incorporated into guidance, such as the Minnesota DNR Native Plant Community Silviculture Strategies and the Wisconsin Silviculture Guide .

Overall, commercial harvesting reduced the number of snags within stands, partly due to safety requirements. MOSS recently completed year-15 measurements and is analyzing these data.

The maturing second-growth forests of the Lake States and the realities of our changing climate will require us to continue developing our understanding of mature and old-growth forests and expand the silvicultural toolbox available to forest practitioners charged with managing these forests.

Written by Greg Edge, Wisconsin DNR Forest Ecologist/Silviculturist
Photos by Wisconsin DNR

Coming out of “Phase 1” of the old growth project were a group of studies that looked more closely at the differences between old-growth and managed stands. The largest of these was the Managed Old-Growth Silvicultural Study (MOSS), a 50-year operational study comparing silvicultural methods for accelerating the development of old-growth characteristics, along with forest products production. MOSS was established at three locations in 70-90 year-old second-growth northern hardwood stands in northern Wisconsin. The 1600-acre experiment built off Lorimer’s work, testing several treatments to accelerate old-growth structure, including small gaps (35’), large gaps (60’ and 80’), irregular multi-cohort openings (emulating moderate windthrow), thinning, snag creation, coarse woody debris creation and controls. Early results indicate that creating coarse woody debris and snags and leaving large reserve trees did not immediately reduce the economic viability of the treatments. In addition, girdling trees to create snags was effective, and the longevity of these structures varied according to species and tree size.

However, not all old-growth in the Lake States looks the same! This is especially true in our frequent, low-severity fire communities. A new research study led by Wisconsin DNR research scientist Dr. Jed Meunier looks at silviculture methods to emulate the diverse spatial and regeneration patterns of natural origin red pine. The Northern Pine Management Initiative uses the individuals, clumps and openings (ICO) method to establish variable density thinning targets based on historic stand structures. The study includes ICO thinning, standard basal area thinning, and controls at three northern Wisconsin sites. Prescribed burns will be applied in half the treatment blocks to emulate the historic disturbance patterns.

A Career Highlight of Guild Member Michael T. Mangum

Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Michael T. Mangum

I retired April 1, 2024 after 47 years (1977-2024) of a fulfilling career in Ocean County Parks & Recreation Department. After attending the University of Vermont and obtaining a degree in Parks & Recreation with a minor in Forestry, I started at the bottom as a Park Naturalist and worked my way up to Director in 2003.

The Ocean County Parks system consists of about 35,000 acres, most of which are undeveloped forest lands. Ocean County sits on the eastern side of South Jersey along the Atlantic Ocean and barrier islands. Maritime Forest is an important component of this area, however, the bulk of our forest lands are within the New Jersey Pine Barrens and the Pinelands National Reserve. The New Jersey Pine Barrens are one of the most volatile fire dependent forests in the country. While about 60% of the County is preserved by Federal, State, County, Municipal and Non-profit lands, the population of the County has exploded in recent decades. This development has caused the Wildland Urban Interface to increase dramatically, presenting many challenges. When I grew up in Ocean County it was mostly forests and farms. Forest fires were always a part of our culture. I have never forgotten one event from when I was 8 years old that has guided me in my career. April 20, 1963 is “Black Saturday,” when 127 fires burned 183,000 acres over 3 days in this area. 400 structures were destroyed. Development was sparse then. Today these circumstances would be an incredible disaster.

The NJ Pine Barrens have had a long history of fire. Today many environmentalists think the forest should remain untouched. These ideas have led to overstocked, unhealthy forests with high fuel loads which increase the potential for disaster. The idea of keeping fire out of the forest began with Gifford Pinchot. One of his first jobs as a professional forester was as a forest consultant to the NJ Dept. of Geology – the forerunner of the Dept. of Environmental Protection. He saw the devastation that fire created in South Jersey first hand. When he became the first head of the US Forest Service he believed fire needed to be kept off the landscape. Eventually he changed his view, but this influenced decades of policy here in South Jersey.

The Pine Barrens were always a human influenced forest. Native Americans were here when it was tundra. As the glaciers receded from northern NJ and forests began to grow they burned them on an annual basis to improve hunting, ease travel, and for agricultural reasons. This shaped the landscape and favored fire dependent species. When the settlers first came they found a forest similar to a healthy Ponderosa Pine Forest – open and interspersed by grass and elk. Today, due to overstocked forests the threat of wildfire is greater than ever. These forests are also more susceptible to Southern Pine Beetle, Spongy Moth, and Pine Looper infestations and other issues. In addition, the loss of historical habitats has caused species like Bob White Quail to all but disappear and forced endangered species to fringe areas.

I believe we have a responsibility to manage our forest lands to improve forest health and mitigate the danger of wildfire in the W.U.I. Over 30 years, I built a close relationship with the NJ Forest Fire Service (one of the oldest Wildland Fire Fighting Agencies in the country). We work closely with them mitigating hazards and putting fire back on the landscape. The work we do with them has a secondary benefit of improving forest health. My department develops burn plans and trains staff to conduct prescribe burns with the Forest Fire Service. In addition to my work with the County, I also serve as a Special District Fire Warden. My department has developed and implements Forest Stewardship Plans. A current one encompasses almost 13,000 acres in the Forked River Mountains Area (they are hills under 200 ft.). The objectives include improving forest health, improving conditions for endangered species, and wildfire mitigation.

One of my greatest challenges as Director was the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy which devastated Ocean County. In addition to extensive damage to the Park System’s infrastructure, tens of thousands of trees were blown over or damaged which caused parks to be closed for many months. Urban forestry and hazard tree mitigation is a daily part of life when running a park system. However, Hurricane Sandy overwhelmed our ability as a department to deal with the cleanup. In addition, while Pitch Pine is a resilient and very adaptable tree, prolonged saltwater inundation after Sandy stressed these trees and led to a Southern Pine Beetle infestation along the coastal forests which killed a significant percentage of these pines. These forests are just now recovering.

Lastly, I would be remiss without mentioning the role environmental and historical education/interpretation plays in our Park System. With so many new people moving to our county who have not grown up with an understanding of how our ecosystems work and the role humans play, educating the public is one of our prime missions. Among the many things we teach through our environmental education facilities is the role fire plays, Pine Barrens ecology, folklore, and traditional uses of the landscape.

I plan to keep active in retirement. I enjoy fishing, hunting, camping, hiking & sea kayaking. I will be busy on the County Natural Lands Trust and Shade Tree Commission. I lived the dream with the support of my family and worked with many phenomenal staff over the years to accomplish many things. I am truly blessed by God!

Breaking Boundaries, youth crew blog entry

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Javier Araiza-Cordova

My name is Javier Araiza-Cordova and I have been working for the Forest Steward Guild for a year. It has been a great learning experience. Before I get into how the Guild has helped me on my journey let me give you my background and how I learned about the Forest Steward Guild. Before joining the Guild, I worked at a family-owned pizza shop in downtown Santa Fe in 2022. As much as I enjoyed working with my family and serving food to customers, I never felt satisfied or fulfilled with my current job and the stress of graduation left me disoriented and lost with my life. After graduation I continued to work and make plans about where I wanted my life to go since I was not interested in working in the food industry. I was a huge fan of nature and the outdoors, so I wanted to pursue a career in that very subject. Luckily one of my cousins was a firefighter and recommended the Forest Stewards Guild since they dealt in that field of work specifically and they even helped with teaching you about basic firefighting training. “They provide good training and opportunities; I believe that it would be something worth your time” he told me and that it would be a “great learning experience” and I would get important training done which would benefit me in the future.

At first, I was not too confident that I would get the job since I assumed the position would be filled, and I did not have any experience to help me out. Luckily Sam Berry, the Southwest Associate Director for the Forest Stewards Guild, gave me a call telling me that I got the job. After meeting my crew, we embarked on our journey to learn how to become firefighters which included a balanced two weeks of informational classroom sessions as well as a good amount of field activities which taught us fire operations/management and chainsaw maintenance/usage.

Once we finished our first weeks of training, we proceeded to do a variety of different projects such as trail building and slash piling.

Our biggest project was helping the University of New Mexico in their reforestation project to plant 12,000 seedlings to combat the damage and burn scars from the Hermits Peak fire. Even after all the successful projects, I was missing something important. I found that participating in prescribed burning was the missing piece. So, for the fall season of 2023 I decided to return for another season with Forest Stewards Guild to hopefully fulfill the missing piece and put my skills to use. Lucky enough for me they had two projects that included fire, first being the Cottonwood Gulch RX which was an incredibly fun and educational burn.

It taught me the reasons and purposes for prescribed burns and why they are necessary for the health and safety of the ecosystem and the people. For our second burn, we were invited to Taos Ski Valley. This one being vastly different because it was a pile burn. During this season with my new crew, I learned better leadership skills, communication skills, and overall improved from last year. Before my season ended the Guild approached me with another job opportunity for a winter pile burn crew also known as the All Hands All Lands crew. The purpose of the crew was to help with any prescription pile burns during the winter which helps reduce the fuels to prevent major fire damage during an actual wildfire. Which was fun but stressful at times because of the unpredictable weather and the hikes that sometimes would take most of the day. Those bad days and hikes were a humbling experience, because it helps build character and determination. We stayed positive through it all, which was a great experience because it helped me find things that I could improve on as a person and gave me the confidence that I was missing.

The Forest Stewards Guild really helped me find a purpose in this world that I’m very grateful for. My goals after this are to go to school for a semester and study in Biology and other environmental classes so I can improve on one of my passions which is the environment. Lucky for me this job has helped me build a solid foundation that I can use just in case I decide to pursue something different in the future. Hopefully I can join a permanent crew soon and maybe one day with more experience I can teach the younger generation about fire and the environment to help them pursue their passions.

Managing Beech for Resiliency to Pests and Pathogens at the Wildlands

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Paulina Murray, Holt Research Forest Fellow. Photos by Logan Johnson, Maine TREE Foundation unless otherwise noted.

Third in the Maine Forest Climate Change Webinar & Field Tour Series, Maine’s Forest Climate Change Initiative (FCCI) hosted an interactive webinar and field tour at the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust’s (GPMCT) Wildlands, which focused on forest pests and pathogens. Recipient of the 2023 Maine Outstanding Tree Farmer Award, the GPMCT Wildlands is described as “a place where you may see a moose while mountain biking, an osprey while paddling along a pristine shore, or enjoy an amazing view from more than one mountain – all within minutes of Rte. 1,” and is the place to go to witness adaptation and implementation in action. Together with the Forest Stewards Guild, Maine TREE Foundation, and UMaine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests, the FCCI hosted a diverse group of forest professionals, including foresters, loggers, students, researchers, and family forest owners, to discuss the management of a prominent tree species, forest defoliators, and disease threats in the Acadia region. The session began at stand 241, aptly described by Roger Greene, a forestry consultant with the GPMCT, as “the worst stand of beech I’d ever seen.”

Historically recognized by its smooth, gray bark, the American beech is a native species common throughout eastern North America. With the ability to produce root sprouts, or “suckers,” American beech trees often produce nearly uniform stands, presenting significant challenges in their management. These aggressive growth patterns are exacerbated by disease and mortality, leading to the exclusion of the regeneration of desired species and reduced site biodiversity.

Stand 241 and neighboring stands were originally slated for residential development, but the plans were abandoned before construction in the late 1990s. Acres of land were clearcut and left to regenerate without interference. What resulted were stands of pure beech. Now, there are standing trees, slash, and sprouted stumps in the managed stand, unlike the dense and uniform unmanaged stands. Roger explained how a high-stumping technique, where beech is cut below the first live branch to discourage sprouting, is used in stand 241 to reduce beech regeneration. To some, the managed stand might look messier and unmanaged due to the high piles of slash and stumps left behind. However, this complexity creates more opportunities for wildlife habitats and resources.

Beech trees provide habitat and resources for many wildlife species, including birds, mammals, insects, and more. For example, beech trees commonly provide cover for black-capped chickadees and other cavity-dwellers. Beech masts are particularly important for mice, squirrels, black bears, foxes, ruffed grouse, and ducks. Furthermore, American beech trees support 126 caterpillar species in Maine and, thus, provide more food options for terrestrial birds. At stand 241, Private Lands Biologist Joe Roy with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shared a story about weasels using beech slash piles for hunting. By standing on their hind legs at the top of a slash pile, weasels can double their height to give them a better view of their prey, another excellent example of how complexity can provide more opportunities for wildlife.

Beech bark disease is the primary cause of mortality in American beech trees throughout most of their natural range in North America. The disease was first reported on a shipment of infected European beech trees from Europe in 1920 and has since spread steadily throughout most of its North American range. The infection takes part in a two-step process. First, infestation occurs by the beech bark scale Cryptococcus fagisuga, predisposing them to infection by two fungi: Neonectria coccinea var. Faginta and less often N. galligena . The bark scale creates open bark wounds that allow the fungi to infect the tree, resulting in beech trees laden with thick, bubbling cankers and a light red rash blooming across the bark. As the cankers spread, branch and crown dieback eventually result in the tree’s death.

Contrasts between managed (right) and unmanaged (left) beech stands—photos by Logan Johnson and Paulina Murray, Maine TREE

One emphasis of the webinar and field tour was embracing the idea of a gradient of resistance to beech bark disease, with some being more susceptible than others. A susceptible beech has sunken cankers and callus tissue with cracked or recessed centers caused by the scale insect infestation and fungal infection. In the middle of the spectrum are tolerant beeches. These trees have delimited cankers and have been infected by the bark scale and fungi but formed a wound periderm, also known as the outer layer of a plant stem thickened in response to infection or wound, preventing the infection from reaching the vascular cambium. Underneath these cankers is clear and healthy bark. A resistant beech looks smooth and free of cankers, wounds, or fungal infections. Resistant beech trees are often found close to one another, and some research indicates that resistance is a genetically inheritable trait that can originate from root sprouts. Their success in resisting the disease may be due to having significantly lower concentrations of some amino acids and amino nitrogen in the bark.

A lesser-known disease gaining attention is beech leaf disease, which kills native and ornamental beech tree species. The disease was first detected in Ohio in 2012 and later in Waldo County, Maine in 2021. It has since spread prevalently throughout the midcoast region. As the name suggests, beech leaf disease affects the leaves of a beech tree and is associated with the nematode Litylenchus crenatae mcannii. Infected beech tree leaves will have uncharacteristic colors and deformities like dark banding between the veins or shriveled and leathery textures. Premature bud drop, aborted buds, and thinning canopies are other common signs of the disease. However, identifying beech leaf disease can often be challenging because infected trees can simultaneously contain heavily infected clusters of leaves and unaffected branches.

A memorable moment of the tour was when one participant remarked, “It’s all about balance; even doing nothing benefits some, but not others.” As we delve deeper into understanding the dynamics of Maine’s forests and their interactions with pests and pathogens, the concept of balance becomes increasingly important, both in the present and as we plan for the future.

FCCI is a collaborative effort between Maine TREE Foundation , the Forest Stewards Guild , and UMaine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests (CRSF). Through quarterly webinars and field tours, the initiative fosters conversation and learning on the impacts of climate change in the Maine woods.
Join us for the final session of Season 4: Women’s Approach to Climate Adaptation on May 8 (webinar) and 10 (Field Tour). All are welcome! Learn more and register here: https://crsf.umaine.edu/fcci-webinars/

Through Fire Nature Is Reborn, youth crew blog entry

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Jose Ramirez

Through hardships to the stars, nothing comes easy in life. Through hard work you can accomplish anything, this is my story. During 2021 I reached a low point in my life after I graduated high school, I did not know what career path to follow. One of my mentors from Communities in Schools presented me with an opportunity, an internship. Adrian Sotelo (CIS), my former mentor, presented me with Future Focused Education and River Source. At my internship with River Source I gained knowledge of how to alter the characteristics of stream flow and build dams with natural resources. I also learned a new love for nature. A conversation came up with Rich Schrader (River Source Director) about wildland firefighting, and he introduced me to The Forest Stewards Guild.

Fall of 2021 I started my journey as a wildland firefighter. I learned a lot in the Forest Stewards Youth Corps Fire and Fuels program, learning new things was a goal I set myself for the 2021 season. I learned how to use a chainsaw, read a map, identify north, east, south and west. I also learned about prescribed burns and how humans have an impact on the environment. One of the most important things I learned wasn’t about fire or chainsaws. It was about me, I learned that giving up wasn’t an option. I really struggled on the pack test, and it took me 3 tries, getting closer each time, till I got it done. I also struggled with chainsaw maintenance and felling a tree, but like any other challenge in life I conquered it and adapted, I worked hard and trained a lot.

After the 2021 season ended, I took a break from fire, but I remembered that my old crew lead was a volunteer firefighter. It piqued my interest, so I decided to go to the nearest fire station near me and pursued volunteering as a firefighter. I was working as a care provider and a volunteer firefighter for the first 6 months of 2023. I received an email from the Guild about hiring for the Forest Stewards Youth Corps and I applied. At first, I applied as a crewmember, but Sam Berry (Forest Stewards Guild Southwest Associate Director) encouraged me to apply as crew leader for the fall 2023 FSYC Season. I thought about it for a while, I was anxious. I took the leap of faith and went for it. With the chance I got from the Guild, I learned the biggest part of being a good leader was being humble, being open minded, and listening to my crew members. I had a quote to keep my crew motivated during stressful times. (Insert 2023 Crew here) “One heart one unit” was the quote, at first, I said it as a joke, but it developed a motto for keeping everyone positive. I noticed that my crew worked well together because we all learned together. I taught them about the paperwork I was doing, and they taught me that one person cannot change the world alone, you need a crew. Then the end of the great FSYC 2023 season came. That wasn’t my end with the Guild, I applied to their winter prescribed fire squad and got the opportunity.

With the winter prescribed fire crew, I understood that burning piles is much harder than anticipated. Hiking through four feet of snow and sometimes even swimming through the snow to get to a pile, builds a lot of character. Jokes aside, it was a learning experience, that’s why I joined the winter prescribed fire crew. I joined because of the drive to learn and expand my knowledge about fire, it has helped at the fire station as well. In my honest opinion during the winter prescribed fire crew, I gained a lot of personal development and learned a lot. I gained knowledge about radios, more chainsaw tricks and firing operations. We also got to teach an intern about chainsaws and a project we are working on making piles. She learned about felling and bucking trees. She also learned about O.H.L.E.C Objectives, Hazards, Leans, Escape Routes and Cut Plans. I gained a lot of knowledge and wisdom during this pile burn squad, a lot of personal growth and it helped me achieve the personal goals I set at the beginning of the season, passing the pack test of course and expanding my knowledge of fire and radios. I appreciate the Guild staff and what they have helped me achieve, my plans haven’t changed, I want to change the world and do great things and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

One Canopy Joins the Guild to Sprout Hope on International Day of Forests

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Stephanie Ashley, OneCanopy VP of Marketing & Culture

The International Day of Forests in March was a timely reminder of the critical role trees play in our environment. Here in Colorado, we face a significant challenge: millions of acres need reforestation due to climate change and human impact.

OneCanopy , founded in 2023 by Fort Collins native Kevin Brinkman , hopes to be a seed of change. The innovative social enterprise is Colorado’s first reforestation company, tackling the challenge from the ground up – literally. The company’s focus is on growing native trees and shrubs specifically suited to the Rocky Mountain region.

“This International Day of Forests, we celebrate all the people and companies taking a proactive approach to reforestation in Colorado,” said director of operations and business development Katelynn Martinez . “We sponsor and partner with the Forest Stewards Guild because we align with their vision of an ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forest industry. As a triple bottom line company, those values are paramount to us.”

Currently, nurseries specializing in these native species are scarce, and even the largest tree producers in the region struggle to meet demand. There are fewer than 10 nurseries focused on native tree species production in the Rocky Mountain region, all of which are currently operating at full capacity and still only fulfilling 20% of the trees needed to backfill the large-scale deforestation. OneCanopy is filling this critical gap, supplying vital plant material for government agencies, nonprofits, conservation districts, carbon credit companies, private landowners, and other conservation groups. These trees will contribute to wildlife habitat restoration, improve river health after wildfires, prevent soil erosion, and even support food production through sustainable practices.

In a space often dominated by government, OneCanopy has identified a unique opportunity for private industry within forest management. Private industry can often be far nimbler than government counterparts, allowing them to work toward shared stewardship goals in creative and innovative ways. As the need for forest management continues to grow, public-private partnerships that incorporate novel approaches are pivotal to success and broad scale impact. OneCanopy is in lock step with the Forest Stewards Guild and their members on that endeavor, all helping each other toward a greater good.

With ambitious goals, OneCanopy is aiming to become the largest seedling producer for conservation in the Rocky Mountain region within the next five years. They plan to grow at least one million trees annually, facilitating the reforestation of 10,000 total acres across the Rocky Mountains, and that’s just the beginning.

“The long-term vision for OneCanopy is to become a one-stop shop for reforestation,” explains founder and CEO Kevin Brinkman. “Eventually, we want to engage at every phase of the reforestation pipeline. For now, we’re starting with the seedling nursery.”

The company plans to become a comprehensive reforestation service, encompassing everything from project financing and seed collection to planting and long-term monitoring. This holistic approach ensures the success of reforestation efforts for years to come.

On International Day of Forests, OneCanopy celebrated a significant upcoming milestone: surpassing one million seedlings grown in 2024. Nearly 185,000 trees have already been planted, while the remaining seedlings are diligently maturing and will be ready for reforestation planting in 2024 and 2025.

About OneCanopy

OneCanopy is a privately funded conservation nursery in northern Colorado growing native trees and shrubs for reforestation throughout the Rocky Mountains. We aim to be a premier partner and work directly with stakeholders throughout the entire conservation and reforestation pipeline, from seed collectors to nonprofits, from governments to schools. As a social enterprise, we reinvest our profit back into the nursery to grow between 500,000 and one million trees annually for reforestation.

For more information, watch the video , visit www.one-canopy.com or follow @plantonecanopy on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Thank you to OneCanopy for your Organizational Sponsorship of the Forest Stewards Guild. You are in great company with all of our sponsors, and we gratefully move forward with all of you for forests and those who depend on them.

Notes from the Guild’s winter prescribed fire crew

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

In the winter of 2023 – 2024 the Guild partnered with the US Forest Service Southwest Regional Fuels Program to host our third season of a winter prescribed fire crew. This was a welcome return after taking a break in the winter of 2022 following the Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon fires. This 3-person crew supported winter pile burning across boundaries in northern New Mexico and worked on fuels mitigation projects. Winter pile burns often happen on short notice to catch winter storms or brief windows of good smoke dispersion so having a crew available on short notice is crucial. This crew also continues the professional development of some of our fall Fire and Fuels Youth Corps Crew members, giving them important training and experience to take into their careers.

You can learn more about the crew’s experience in their own words, in a story map developed by the crew leader, Sam Lynch, and in blog posts by each of the crew members, Jose Ramirez , and Javi Cordova .

The crew is wrapping up this spring and I’m so appreciative of all the hard work they put in and hope to stay in touch as they move on. Who knows, maybe we’ll get them back working for the Guild again soon!

Written by Sam Berry

Third time’s the charm. Burning at Cottonwood Gulch

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Carlos Saiz and Sam Berry

When I (Carlos) first arrived at the Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions Basecamp, I was a rookie firefighter showing up to prescribed burn in 2015, excited to start my career, and looking to get fire experience at every opportunity. The Basecamp is located at the foothills of the Zuni Mountains and has ponderosa pine mixed with pinyon juniper forests with a few cottonwoods along a stream as the name would suggest. It is also the heart of a large expedition-based youth education program, with hundreds of youths coming and going throughout the year to learn about nature and the outdoors. The Gulch’s staff have engaged in actively restoring their lands to protect themselves from fire but more importantly as part of their mission to demonstrate to their campers and neighbors what responsible forest management means, and that includes returning fire to the landscape.

Returning with a collaborative team that had successfully burned at the camp twice before in the 2010s, preparations began in 2021 with the Guild, the Ember Alliance, the local volunteer fire department, The Nature Conservancy, and Cottonwood Gulch to implement another burn. That fall was too wet to complete the burn though and, in the spring of 2022, we made another attempt. We were nearly hitting call on our phones to mobilize resources to the site, when the forecast changed, and we had to call off the burn due to dry and windy conditions outside of our prescription. During that same day, 150 miles northeast of the unit, the Las Dispensas prescribed fire was ignited, turning into New Mexico’s largest wildfire, the Hermits Peak fire. This tragedy was then compounded when a nearby winter pile burn flared up in the spring and turned into the Calf Canyon wildfire. During an unprecedented wind event, these two escaped prescribed burns combined into one fire. Like after the Cerro Grande Fire from 2000, another escaped prescribed fire tragedy in New Mexico, the atmosphere around prescribed burning immediately darkened, bringing new challenges and adversities for years to come. The Guild and the Gulch postponed the burn to weather that storm and wait for better weather.

When I returned to the area in 2023, I had plenty of fire experience and had just started a new job at the Guild as the Fire and Fuels Coordinator. I was ready to train new firefighters at the start of their career and to help implement a prescribed burn 2 years in the making. In a combination effort to prepare for the burn and to get folks ready for the season, Cottonwood Gulch was host to the S-130/190 and the S-212 fire classes. The students were part of our Forest Stewards Youth Corps that gives entry level experience to folks that are new to forestry. While completing their training these individuals also worked on digging handlines and preparing the burn area. These students would also play a major part in burning the Gulch as well.

Along with prepping the burn area came prepping the communities around the Gulch for the burn. In 2019 there was another escaped prescribed fire that was visible from the town of Bluewater Acres where the camp was located so folks were already on edge even before the escapes at Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon in 2022. A public outreach effort to better communicate the need and role of fire in the landscape was developed throughout Thoreau and Bluewater Acres. We managed to get municipal fire personnel, community members, and Cottonwood Gulch staff in a meeting together with the Guild to talk about what was going to happen during the coming autumn. The first meeting went well, and some trust was built, but afterwards more community members heard about the meeting too late to attend. A second meeting was called to provide a chance to meet with these folks too. Some distrust remained with a few folks, but more were ok with or supportive of our plan.

Concurrently with this process another necessary step was to obtain a permit from the county fire department. In 2023 New Mexico had no centralized prescribed fire permit process so counties used their own patchwork of processes, and few were addressing burns of this complexity or size, as they mostly focused on back yard debris burning or agricultural burning. Cottonwood Gulch is in McKinley County, where they had just received a new fire Chief since our last permit was issued prior to the escaped burns of 2022. Well versed in “structural” fire suppression, the new chief had his own concerns that needed to be addressed. After the public outreach efforts and attending the operational meetings, and with the support of the VFD chief of the district where the burn was located that had participated in previous burns, the new chief was willing to sign the permit. With the support of his wildland coordinator, he also committed personnel and equipment to assist.

After years of planning, countless coordination calls, and prepping the unit 3 times, resources arrived at the site on October 2nd, 2023. Engines and crews from Forest Stewards Guild, Forest Stewards Youth Corps, Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions, The Nature Conservancy, The Ember Alliance, Santa Clara Pueblo, the US Forest Service, and McKinley County FD, were eager to get the work done. Previous rainstorms had moistened fuels slightly, but it had dried enough to make the unit good enough to burn. The problem was that another storm holding hail had stopped right over the unit that afternoon, casting an ominous gray in the sky and in our hearts, and made everyone question whether we had too much precipitation or not. Luckly, the gray sky didn’t last long.

Once the sky cleared and the hail melted off, the next few days went just as planned. Firing and holding teams were put together prioritizing training opportunities, including engine boss, firing boss, squad boss, and fire effects monitors. We were able to safely burn 110 acres over two days, and nearly all the youth corps members got a memorable first burn as they were able to see their hard prep work come into play as they dragged a torch or held a tool on the line. We then turned to intensive mop-up to cool the perimeter followed by weeks of patrolling.

An unanticipated consequence of burning through the mix of pinyon juniper and ponderosa forest types, is that the ponderosa burned nice and clean as it’s adapted to do, but the deep dense layers of duff under the pinon trees that had been building up for 100s of years smoldered for weeks, with little “duffers” going underground and popping back up. It was a reminder that just because it’s convenient to draw a box based on property boundaries and ideal holding features around them and burn everything inside, there can be unexpected consequences of trying to force fire into systems that aren’t as well adapted for it. In the future, burning at the Cottonwood Gulch should probably be primarily in the ponderosa areas, and avoiding the differently fire adapted pinyon areas, that when burned through held lingering smoldering messes that could have caused control problems.

In the end our team was able to pull together all the threads of navigating tricky weather, community outreach, working through permitting hurdles, bringing together a diverse collaborative team, and training the next generation of forest stewards together to pull off a successful burn. On top of building some trust around the practice of prescribed burning, this success brought well needed fire and rejuvenated the landscape, partnerships, and community. In addition, we anticipate that this burn improved the landscape’s health and will allow more grasses and forbs to reach up through the forest floor that was previously slash and a carpet of pine needles, but we have a field visit scheduled for the spring to determine what the impacts are. We are certain that the burn was successful in removing fuels directly adjacent to Gulch’s infrastructure, so the threat of wildfire is reduced during the summer when there are sometimes hundreds of students on site. Although the 110 acres are relatively small in the large landscapes of New Mexico, the burn had outsized impacts by demonstrating that prescribed broadcast burns on private property after the Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon disasters could be achieved safely and successfully.

Fueling Collaboration panel discussion series recap

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Amanda Mahaffey

February marked the close of Season 4 of the Fueling Collaboration panel discussion series. This interactive, facilitated series addresses hot topics in wildland fire science and management. Imagine you’re at a conference, and it’s late in the day, and you happen to notice some experts on a topic you’re interested in sitting down together for refreshments and engaging conversation. This is the atmosphere created in the Fueling Collaboration series. Facilitated conversations with fire scientists and land managers explore wide-ranging avenues of current research, burning questions, and opportunities to fuel collaborations.

The Fueling Collaboration series was created in 2020 as a joint effort of the fire science exchanges in the Northeast and Midwest and the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. A year later, the successful series was expanded to include the Southern Research Station and Southern Fire Exchange. Leaders from each of these networks select topics, invite speakers, facilitate the virtual panels, and communicate with participants to ensure their questions are being addressed. Since the series launch, thousands of participants have joined in these engaging events, often filling up the chat with resources and related conversation threads.

Recordings and resources from Season 4 are now available online , along with recordings from the past three seasons. This season kicked off with a fabulous panel discussion on Fire History as a Bridge Between Ecological Knowledge Systems , featuring Indigenous firekeepers and western science collaborators. The excitement built with The Future is Smoky panel, facilitated by a retired wildfire incident meteorologist who led the panel through a series of topics tied to the past unprecedented wildfire season and the outlook for the years ahead. The panel discussion on the Phenology of Fire: Listening to the Plants and Animals examined the seasonality of fire and fire effects on fire-dependent flora and fauna. The season rounded out with a diverse conversation on Successfully Bridging the Gap: Eastern US Models of Fire Science and Management Collaboration , which tied back to the community-building elements of successful fire science collaboration.

Mature and Old Growth Science Summit: Climate-Informed Forestry to Foster Resilient Ecosystems

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Forest Stewards Guild was well represented at the recent Old-Growth Science Summit in Washington, DC. Marianne Patinelli-Dubay, Bill Keeton, and Eric Holst all presented, andKatie Fernholz facilitated the Summit. Numerous other Guild members attended and filled a nearby watering hole for an informal Guild Gathering.

The Summit was motivated by Executive Order 14072 issued two years ago, which directs federal agencies to define, inventory, identify threats towards, and develop policies to mitigate threats to, mature and old-growth forests.

The event started with philosophy and a call to bring Indigenous Knowledge to the fore. Michael Dockry from the Potawatomi Nation and University of Minnesota shared his perspective on the interconnection of people and the nature world, in contrast to Western conceptualization that separates people from ecosystems. Guild member, Marianne Patinelli-Dubey shared her philosophical insights on ‘moral vision’ and its influence on stewardship of old forests. US Forest Service staff provided updates on the old growth inventory and threat analysis (both of which the Guild previewed in our December webinar ). The inventory found 32 million acres of old growth forests ( read Guild member Kristen Pelz and colleagues’ paper on the inventory here ). Researchers used federal Forest Inventory and Analysis data to determine that since the year 2000, we have lost 712,000 acres of old-growth forest to wildfire, 182,000 acres to insects and disease, and 9,000 acres to tree cutting on lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in the lower 48 states. Even more worrisome is the prediction that by the end of the century, 90 percent of old-growth forests will be at very high exposure to wildfire-caused mortality and nearly 60 percent will be exposed to drought. Colleagues at the Wilderness Society inventoried old growth using a very different approach for those who want to read more ( Classifying, inventorying, and mapping mature and old-growth forests ).

Long-time Guild colleagues at Dovetail Partners have released a report titled Old growth forests: How much is enough? and next month we’ll share a new report when it’s released by Conservation Science Partners. The Guild’s Membership and Policy Council is digging deeper into mature and old-growth forest stewardship and conservation, so look for more on the topic in the coming months.

Written by Zander Evans

In the afternoon, Cristina Eisenberg and Susan Prichard shared a soon-to-be-released report Braiding Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science for Forest Landscape Adaptation to Climate Change: an Ecocultural State of Science Report . An important element in the discussion of Indigenous Knowledge was dispelling the myth of untouched wilderness and lifting Indigenous stewardship up in its wide variation across the continent. Regional break sessions echoed that diversity by focusing on mature and old-growth forests in four broad regions of the country. In western forests, federal management and wildfire were main topics while in northern forests the diversity of land ownership and the impact of invasive pests and pathogens dominated the conversation. Of course, many of the best conversations happened over lunch, during coffee breaks, and among dinner gatherings. Overall, the Summit brought together a great group of researchers, managers, and conservationists that highlight zones of consensus, areas of disagreement, science needs, and the urgency forced by the changing climate.

Reflections on 12 years at the Forest Stewards Guild

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Amanda Mahaffey

Spoiler Alert:

In April, I’ll be transitioning from the Guild to a new employer. Yes, it’s a big change, but no, the world will not end with my departure.

You’re leaving? Oh, no! Where are you going?

I will be a voice for forests in an agency without “Forest” in its name. I look forward to sharing more details when the hiring process is complete. For now, be assured that I will remain a familiar face in the woods in the Northeast. (By the way, I will also be at New England SAF later this month. Come join us at our Guild dinner on Thursday, March 28 !)

Why? Why now?

In my time on staff at the Guild, I have been instrumental in the growth of programs such as Women Owning Woodlands and Foresters for the Birds. I have built up support for communities of practice in forest climate adaptation and the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange. I have stood on stumps and rallied participants at countless field trips, workshops, and virtual events. Since being promoted from Northeast Region Director to Deputy Director in 2019, I have had the privilege of joining the Guild leadership team with Eytan Krasilovsky and Zander Evans. Together, we have navigated Guild staff and programs through challenges (such as the pandemic) and successes (many!) over the last five years. I have learned tremendously and grown immeasurably through these rich experiences at the Guild, and I am indebted to my awesome coworkers, collaborators, and Guild members.

In 2020, I was honored as the recipient of the New England SAF Mollie Beattie Young Forester Leadership Award, which was named for a fierce advocate for ecosystem approaches and the first woman director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Gradually, it dawned on me that in working with forests and people, I had developed skills that could have great impact in the right venue, and perhaps, that venue might be the federal service. I have done great work at the Guild and am ready to take these experiences into the next chapter of my forestry career.

Will you stay involved in the Guild?

Of course! I first joined the Guild as a student member in 2003, and I was “raised” in my forestry career steeped in Guild values, principles, and friendships. I was honored to participate in the Membership Committee and Board of Directors, and I’m proud to have remained a paying professional Guild member through my 12 years on staff. I also aim to recruit new Guild members among my new coworkers. I am excited to elevate the Guild’s ecological forestry principles in my new workplace.

What are some Guild moments that stand out in your memory?

I have been to SO many places with amazing Guild members through the years, it’s hardly fair to try to choose my favorite snapshots. For every photo I’ve shared, there are a hundred more, each with a story of a collaboration, a new forest type, a kindship with forest stewards, a spark of forest wisdom shared. It has been an absolute privilege to walk the woods with such amazing people.

2011

The Forest Guild Board of Directors gathers in Santa Fe, NM

2012

Guild members Barrie Brusila and Mitch Kihn graciously hosted a workshop on invasives management at their home woodlot in Warren, Maine.

2013

Zander joined me in NJ to co-facilitate a workshop on Restoration and Resilience in New Jersey’s forests. This was the first of many times I would use sticky notes and dots to facilitate strategic thinking.

2014

The National Meeting in Burlington, VT was epic! So many awesome people volunteered their time and participated in this monumental event that spring boarded the Guild into forest climate adaptation work.

Building on the work of Guild members in Vermont, Sally Stockwell and I teamed up for countless Forestry for Maine Birds workshops, which helped spread this program to new states. This photo captured a field day with the Wabanaki Youth in Science program.

2015

2016

I became involved in the Guild’s work in ecological forestry in bottomland hardwood forests of the southeastern U.S. This work led to the expansion of the Guild’s programs in the Southeast region.

A Guild Gathering in northern New Hampshire brought together some giants in forest wisdom. Every Guild Gathering reminds me of the lessons taught by our mentors in the forestry profession.

2017

A women-focused woods walk at a Foundation for Sustainable Forests field tour in western Pennsylvania drove home the value of creating space for women landowners to ask questions and learn from one another.

2018

2019

Guild Gatherings that summer at Stone Fence Farm in New Hampshire, Appalachian Mountain Club lands in Maine, and ash silviculture sites in Vermont highlighted the joy of Guild membership.

We overcame pandemic challenges to meet the demand for women’s chainsaw safety workshops after months of social isolation. I’ve had the privilege of facilitating several such workshop alongside Guild member tish carr, all with a goal of empowering women landowners.

2020

2021

A field trip on oak resiliency, part of a multi-year project across southern New England, brought me back to the Quabbin Reservoir, where Guild member Bruce Spencer first taught me how to mark trees.

2022

The prescribed fire training exchange (ME-TREX) brought fire practitioners from across the country to Maine for two weeks of learning and burning together. This event also reunited me with my squad mates from my wildfire assignment in Quebec.

The Guild staff retreat in Santa Fe, New Mexico reminded me how very special our team is. I was privileged to represent the Guild at several fire-related gatherings out West that year, built on our decades of work in the Southwest.

2023

2024

A recent FCCI field tour addressed beech management under pressure from both beech bark and beech leaf disease. As one speaker said, “Everyone has an opinion about beech.” The Guild helped create the space through this series for practitioners to share learning and adapt our management under the changing climate.

Where do you see the Guild going in the years ahead?

I believe we will see the Guild continue to embrace a diversity of perspectives such as those in Seeing the Forest for the Queers, ongoing collaborations that elevate Indigenous perspectives, and conversations yet to be imagined that open our minds to new ways of looking at the forest and our relationship with it. The Guild will also expand our work with youth and young professionals in forest stewardship. I also believe that fire will be increasingly recognized as a natural force and as a management tool. There is much good work to be done in this realm, and the Guild is well-positioned to do it.

Since our founding in 1995, the Forest Stewards Guild has managed to evolve to meet the needs of the changing forest landscape and the forest stewardship profession. While I can’t tell you where we’ll be 30 years from now, I bet the Guild will continue this trajectory. Wherever we go, Guild members and staff will support the integrity of forest ecosystems and the human communities that depend upon them. How that happens is up to the next cohort of forest stewards, in the Northeast and nationally. I have done my part to build up the team at the Guild and support the growth and evolution of our membership. I look forward to seeing where tomorrow’s leaders will take us!

Editor’s note: Amanda leaves us with this lovely, brief video gift. I think she captures it well, how our contributions in the Guild lead invariably to contributions to the meaning and richness of our own lives. Thanks for all you do, Amanda! We will miss you on staff!

Welcome Krista Bonfantine to the Guild

Thu, 15 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

More than twice as much precipitation falls on the Southwest’s highest peaks than the surrounding bottomlands and mountain precipitation is a primary source of groundwater recharge so we need to manage our forests as the water towers that they are. Improved management in upland and riparian ecosystems can maximize the storage of water in the high country and can help make ecosystems more resilient to wildfire. My role at the Guild will add this water lens to the amazing collaborative forest and fire management work that is already taking place within the Rio Chama CFLRP.

Introducing Krista Bonfantine: she is a watershed ecologist who has spent her career connecting water, fire, and people. She holds a Ph.D. in aquatic ecology from Deakin University, a M.S. in Water Resources from the University of New Mexico and a B.S. in Biology from Colorado State University. She became a firefighter as a USFS seasonal more than 20 years ago and has been sharing fire science and helping with the occasional burn ever since. In 2006, Krista founded a consulting company that combined fire and water science with community participation and education. For over a decade she led collaborative teams in water and fire planning, ecological monitoring, and community outreach projects.

Outside of her career as an ecologist, Krista’s passion for supporting New Mexico communities has also propelled her into volunteer service with several water and fire management organizations. She currently serves as the Chair of the Estancia Basin Water Planning Committee and previously spent 12 years on the board of directors for a small water utility in Sandia Park, NM.

Krista’s PhD research, that spanned from catchment-scale hydrology to microbial community structure, helped prepare her to think about the dizzying array of communities, cycles, and fluxes that interact in the hundreds of subwatersheds that make up the headwaters of the San Juan River, Rio Chama, and Rio Grande. In planning and implementing watershed restoration projects in these basins and others, Krista is applying the principles of ‘heal, hydrate, and hurry’. She is very excited to work with such a talented team to deliver positive outcomes for ecological and human communities.

Written by Krista Bonfantine

In 2017, Krista and her family moved to Australia for an industry-funded Ph.D. in water management. When academic bias against community science pushed Krista’s water management PhD into molecular biology, she learned how to catalog microscopic communities using DNA and then applied those skills in a postdoc, researching the smoke microbiome in the Kobziar Fire Ecology Lab.

New Mexico’s First Annual Tribal Forest and Fire Summit

Thu, 15 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Rachel Bean, Zander Evans, and Sam Berry

Earlier this month, a first-of-its-kind Tribal Forest and Fire Summit gathered 180 people to create connections for collaboration, learn from each other, and break barriers. The Guild joined Trees, Water, People, The Nature Conservancy, and New Mexico Forestry Division to host the three-day event at Santa Ana Star Casino on the traditional lands of Santa Ana Pueblo. Opportunities and challenges related to Tribal fire and forestry management practices, agreements, funding, and more were featured. The agenda was tailored to offer a variety of experiences and opportunities for discussion, including plenary sessions, long-form workshops, concurrent presentations, and field tours.

After an opening statement and prayer from Santa Ana’s Govenor set the intent for the rest of the summit, attendees split up into two groups for separate forestry and fire workshops. The forestry side touched on various forest management topics, including project planning and funding, use of technology, and reforestation. The fire workshop, led by Sam Berry of the Guild, focused on planning for prescribed burning. This session provided an overview of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) burn plan process and covered the elements of an NWCG-aligned prescribed burn plan. It set the stage for future discussion of how Tribes can best work with BIA to create projects that are centered on their objectives and accelerate prescribed burning on Tribal Trust lands.

The New Mexico Tribal Fire Working Group held their third meeting, after the workshops. The Guild has provided scaffolding for this Tribally centered group as members work to advance prescribed and wildfire issues across the reservations and aboriginal lands of the Tribes, Pueblos, and Tribal Nations. Meeting during the summit allowed new members to join the group and bring new energy and ideas.

Zander Evans, the Guild’s executive director, gave the welcome on the second day of the Summit. He emphasized opportunities for Tribes and Indigenous stewards to take advantage of new funding and policy opportunities. In one example, he spoke of the proposed National Old-Growth Amendment that instructs the Forest Service to “integrate Indigenous Knowledge and respect for the ethic of reciprocity and responsibility to future generations and directs land managers to advance co-stewardship, recognizing the importance of general trust responsibilities, treaty rights, and cultural, religious, and other Tribal interests and practices.” He highlighted the resources available through collaboration and the supporting role that non-Tribal partners must play in advancing Indigenous priorities.

John Galvan, Guild board member and Jemez Pueblo Forester, and Cora Stewart, Guild Coordinator, teamed up on day two to share details about the Forest Stewards Youth Corps program at Jemez Pueblo. They showcased the work that Tribal youth complete every summer while learning about environmental stewardship close to home. John and Cora also walked through the history of the Guild’s Youth Corps and what it takes to employ 4-5 young adults every year, including diverse funding sources, a permanent program manager, the creation of programmatic plans, and consistent communication between the Pueblo, the Guild, and other partners. Summit attendees in the room asked insightful questions about the timeline and necessary steps to build their own Youth Corps programs.

The final day of the summit featured the lessons of the first two days put into action through field trips to nearby stewardship projects. Three available tours included a trip organized by Sam Berry as a follow-up to the first day’s fire-focused workshop and meeting. This trip went to a prescribed burn project in pinyon-juniper shrubland on Santa Ana Pueblo. The second trip went to Walatowa Timber Industries, a Jemez Pueblo owned and operated sawmill selling wood products sourced from small-diameter forest restoration thinning. The third visited a biochar operation and explanation at Sandia Pueblo.

This summit only scratched the surface of the many forestry and fire opportunities and challenges for Tribal communities across New Mexico. It provided a valuable space for community members, practitioners, and researchers to meet, share stories and meals, and exchange information. These three days laid the foundation for both future collaborations and future summits.

Read a press release about the Summit from Trees, Water, People.

Bird-Friendly Forestry in the Central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Dakota Wagner

Non-industrial landowners value their forests for many reasons. Common reasons include enjoying and protecting nature, providing a tangible asset for future generations, and generating income in the present. When landowners are asked about their forest management goals, most state that providing a place for wildlife and plants to live and thrive is more important than anything else (i.e., timber, recreation, legacy, etc.). Accordingly, foresters and other practitioners can successfully connect with landowners by using wildlife as an objective for forest management.

Referencing wildlife, and more specifically birds, is a crucial starting point in discussing forest management with landowners because the presence of certain species often indicates quality habitat. Forests in Central Appalachia are home to many different species of birds with diverse habitat needs. Some species prefer mature forests with high structural diversity while others are more often found in younger, regenerating stands. Often, individual species may use different forest ages and structures depending on the stages of their breeding cycles. An unfragmented forest landscape with a diversity of habitats is likely flush with the sound of songbirds. Through watching the behavior of birds, both foresters and landowners can see the specific habitat features that forests provide. By encouraging those features, silviculture can make working forests better places for birds.

The Guild along with partners are implementing a program that will lay the foundation needed to sustain bird-friendly forestry throughout the Central Appalachian region by engaging with practitioners and private landowners. We recently published a bird-friendly forestry silviculture guidebook and corresponding management plan template to inform and guide foresters and land managers on bird-friendly forestry practices in the hardwood forests of the Central Appalachian Mountains. To inform landowners of bird-friendly forestry, our partners Wildlands Network and the Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture created a StoryMap that explores West Virginia from a “bird’s-eye view.”

This spring, we plan to host workshops for practitioners and landowners where they can learn about how to manage forests with birds in mind. These workshops will take place at bird-friendly forestry demonstration sites created by Anew Climate (formerly The Forestland Group) on May 2 and May 3.

We want to thank our partners from the American Bird Conservancy, Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, and Wildlands Network. This project is made possible through their support and collaboration, and funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, NRCS, Domtar Paper, and Packaging Corporation of America.

Starting off 2024 Strong at the Guild

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

The Guild is starting 2024 with positive momentum – thanks to you!
First a huge thanks to all of you who donated to the Guild last year. We were able to shatter our fundraising goals and match over $30,000 in donations! Every dime of these donations goes into our work to practice and promote forest stewardship.

In 2024, you’ll hear about Guild members and staff working on a wide range of ambitious programs, each of which helps get us closer to our vision for ecologically, economically, and socially responsible stewardship as the standard from coast to coast.

In the Northwest, as soon as possible, we will be announcing a job opportunity to join Guild staff and build on the momentum of the Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon field guide . Look for more field tours for landowners, forest caretakers, and natural resource professionals to gather in the woods, make observations together, and practice using the wealth of information in the Guide. We’re also looking forward to the next installment of the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit (stay tuned).

A new Guild program is building a regional response to the Emerald Ash Borer, which threatens to functionally eliminate ash trees from our forests. The loss of ash is ecologically, economically, and culturally devastating, particularly for Indigenous Peoples for whom ash holds a key role in basketry and other traditions. The Guild’s project is focused on educating and engaging land managers in science-based, thoughtful treatment of ash, sharing stories of hope, and encouraging actions that will sustain ash across the landscape (e.g., see resources for ash management focused for landowners and foresters ) .

The Guild will be well represented at the Mature and Old Growth Science Summit: Climate-Informed Forestry to Foster Resilient Ecosystems March 4 to 6 in Washington, DC (the Guild is planning a get together during the conference, so let us know if you’ll be in DC March 4th). Guild members and staff are supporting the US Forest Service on their historic new effort to steward old-growth forests into the next century. Another important policy effort is the Wildfire Resilience Coalition. The Guild is coordinating the Coalition of thirty-five organizations committed foster the enabling conditions for systemic change to achieve landscape and community wildfire resilience – building on the Fire, Forest Management, and Communities Policy Statement. The Coalition is helping leverage change instigated by the extraordinary investments in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

At the same time the Guild is working at the national level to advocate for wildfire resilience, we’re working directing in the woods and communities to make it a reality. The winter piles squad is out right now burning slash piles to make ponderosa pine forests more fire resilient. Guild staff secured funding through a Community Wildfire Defense Grant to help residents implement defensible space treatments in New Mexico.

We’re already gearing up for the summer field work season. The Forest Stewards Youth Corps will begin recruiting a new cohort in March. Their goal will be to surpass the 2023 accomplishments that include:

21 miles of trail built,
27 acres of noxious species removal,
166 slash piles constructed,
40 acres thinned,
11 miles of fire line maintained,
11 acres of timber marked,
13 miles of fence line constructed,
328 fence structures established,
4 acres of recreation sites maintained,
316 acres burned, and
2,450 trees planted.

We’re hiring three apprentices through the NextGen Forest Program , a partnership between the Forest Stewards Guild and The Nature Conservancy, to apply climate-smart forestry practices focused on developing a healthy understory of native tree species on several properties across the region. Our next Forestry and Wildlife Internship in South Carolina in partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service is open for applications now too.

Even as programs and projects are in full swing for 2024, we’re starting to plan for our 30th anniversary in 2025! We’re hoping to organize a national meeting where we can reconnect with friends, meet new colleagues, celebrate successes of the last three decades, and look forward to stewardship in the second half of 21st century. Thank you for your support and presence with all these efforts and results!

A Rare Type of Guild Gathering in the Land of Enchantment

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Fallon Grafe

On December 7, 2023, there was a unique Guild Gathering in Santa Fe. Our southwest office was hosting an in-person board meeting that week and decided to have a social gathering to give the Board of Directors and our staff a chance to meet with partners, members, and anyone with a general interest in the Forest Stewards Guild. The event was held at CHOMP – a multi-cultural food hall and event space. (Photo of Al Sample, Jeremy Marshall, and Zander Evans)

We gathered and chatted about Guild happenings in the southwest and around the country. It proved to be a terrific way for ideas sprouted at the board meeting to spill over into a casual scenario, allowing even more creative juices to flow. Members and partners met board members and talked with staff about current and ongoing projects or ideas for the future. Sharing values and concerns while talking with people in the Guild community seems to be a fantastic way for plans to bloom.

Having board members from across the country discuss what was happening in their regions was quite enlightening. The last chance the board met in person instead of virtually was before the pandemic. It was an excellent meeting of the minds and a welcome chance for board members to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with each other and see multiple points of view in one place. (Photo of Eytan Krasilovsky, Kate Cartwright, and David Van der Goes)

Wrapped in this bundle of opportunities was another, for one of our newest staff members, Erika Rowland. Erika is based in Maine and came to the Southwest and met staff members in Santa Fe for the first time. It was wonderful to spend a little time with her and learn more about her strengths and the previous experience she brings to the Guild.

In addition to great company, there was a festive and fun atmosphere for the Gathering. Santa Fe is a lovely place to be for the holidays and we had a nice snow storm the week before. It was a beautiful winter evening and lights were up all over town. The farolitos were glowing (if you do not know what these are, come to Santa Fe in December – you may give us a reason to have another gathering). This first night of Hanukkah was just the beginning of a happy and festive holiday season. The Guild worked with local vendors at the venue for a fun and delicious spread. Plus, we got to be fashionable because Guild gear was given as door prizes.

The gathering was a success. Good things came from it and innovative ideas and points of view went home with members and partners and were fresh in the minds of board members the next morning for the second day of their meeting. This was a rare event, but hopefully will become less so in the coming years. Cheers! ( Photo of John Fenderson, Bill and Dixie Bradley)

Meet your 2024 Guild Board and MPC

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Compiled by Colleen Robinson

Here at the Guild, this time of year graces us with new faces on our Board of Directors and our Membership and Policy Council . Though like snow, it’s not a given. We graciously accept your willingness to share your time and talents with the Guild in these roles. Thank you all for your service. Please help us welcome these new members and take your opportunities to get to know them better! Full bios and contact information are on the webpages linked in this article.

Incoming to our Board of Directors :

Tony D’Amato is a long-time Guild member and Professor at University of Vermont. Tony is the Director of Forestry Program and Director of UVM Research Forests. His research interests center on evaluating the efficacy of traditional and experimental silvicultural strategies at meeting the increasingly diverse range of forest management objectives on public and private land. His numerous publications include the textbook Ecological Silviculture: Foundations and Applications.

Sandra Denyse Jones is an independent rural community development consultant. She primarily works with African-American landowners and communities with low-incomes to preserve the culture and environment while providing economic opportunity and an improved quality of life. Because of her interest in community-based forestry and land ownership retention, Sandra served as a board member of the National Network of Forest Practitioners and the South Carolina Association of Cooperatives and Farmers. She is a founding board member of the Fund for Southern Communities and the Black Family Land Trust. Sandra is on the board of the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center, which focuses on the history of the community of African American and white loggers in Wallowa County, Oregon.

Ann Duff is the Fiber Sustainability Manager for WestRock company based in Fernandina Beach, Florida. Ann joined the Guild when she engaged with Guild staff through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) controlled wood risk mitigation work. She serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Florida Forestry Association, oversees the Florida Master Logger training program for the Florida SFI Implementation Committee, and is a member of the Florida Forest Council, which is an advisory body to the Florida Forest Service.

Brenda McComb is a Guild member and retired Professor, in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. She served on the planning committee for the Seeing the Forest for the Queers outreach effort to LGBTQ+ natural resource professionals. Her research focused on the effects of various forest stand and landscape management practices on wildlife. Among over 150 publications are three books, Trees of the Central Hardwoods Forests of North America (with Bob Muller and Don Leopold), Monitoring Animal Populations and their Habitats (with Ben Zuckerberg, Dave Vesely and Chris Jordan) and Wildlife Habitat Management: Concepts and Applications in Forestry.

Austin Himes

Incoming Membership and Policy Council members share these brief sentiments and thank you for your recent vote!

“I joined and serve the Forest Stewards Guild because the Guild emphasizes balancing the different values forests provide and recognizes the need for grounding forest management in both science and humility. To me the Guild represents forestry that accounts for the diverse ways forests are important to people.” – Starkville, MS

“Individuals and society alike depend on functioning forest ecosystems to survive, yet our forests continue to decline in terms of the aerial extent of forest cover, and the average age and size of dominant trees in our remaining forests. I believe that the Forest Stewards’ Guild’s Mission to normalize responsible forest management will help our forests, our society, and our profession to thrive for many generations to come, and I am honored to support the Guild with my service on the Membership and Policy Council.” – Ashland, OR

Jack Singer

Sara Kelso

“As the future of our forests becomes more and more uncertain, the Guild embodies so much of what I view as important in forestry: continuous learning, responsible forest management, stewardship ethic, the diversity of those who use forests, and putting the forest first. I’m excited and honored to serve as a member of the Guild’s Membership and Policy Council as the Guild continues to positively influence our forests and our society.” – Marquette, Michigan

Richard Zell Donovan

“For forestry in the USA, I believe it is critical that the Guild support the conservation of critical and rare forest attributes, species, and natural communities, while at the same time knowing we need to have the support of local communities for practical solutions. Humans are part of the ecosystem, and Guild efforts need to constantly reinforce how critical the relationship is between us and forests.” – Jericho, VT.

Jeffrey Dubis

“I appreciate the Guild’s viewpoint that the forests have values that benefit society and that are also independent of society. The Guild’s emphasis on responsible, ecologically based forest management and commitment to education make it a valuable resource for individuals of all interests and backgrounds. The principles of the Guild, the many educational opportunities it offers, and its focus on diversity and inclusion should be an attraction to many of today’s young professionals.” – Wanakena, New York.

A Brief Discussion of Old Growth Forests

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

By Dayl Velasco

This past September, the seventh Eastern Old Growth Forest Conference was held in New Hampshire near Lake Winnepesaukee, and this was the first reconvening of the conference in nearly twenty years. It is dedicated to the exchange of information on old growth forests. The themes covered at the conference included the following: Forest Dynamics, Ecology, and Management; Balancing Preservation and Management; Climate Change Implications; and Health and Wellness.

A report released earlier this year by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management found that 18 percent of all the forested land managed by these agencies qualifies as old growth (though, importantly, there is some disagreement between studies regarding the exact percentage). This leaves more than half of all forests managed by these agencies falling into some other category—a category which could be described broadly as forests having been disturbed too recently to count as old growth, whether disturbed by natural disasters, pest and disease, or anthropogenic causes. These findings naturally lead to discussions about forest management practices and how best to protect the scarce old growth forests that remain and to encourage the old growth forests of the future.

In the telling of one attendee, the conference took a refreshing middle ground approach amid paradigms on both ends of the forest management spectrum—on one side the continued use of traditional agriculturally based silviculture which prioritizes timber over ecological forest management, the other to stop almost all harvesting of trees. People came to the conference with different beliefs and perspectives, but they came with open minds and a willingness to discuss and listen.

Although the conference did not end in a consensus on the path forward for old-growth forest management, it represents an important step in the work towards mutual understanding and a shared desire for the betterment of our forests. As members of the Forest Stewards Guild, when we talk about promoting ecological forestry, these are exactly the types of conversations we mean to have.

The more one delves into the subject of old growth forests, the more one realizes how tricky they are to define. There is significant debate in the scientific community around how to classify these forests. Some definitions of old growth rely on the age of the trees, and some center around a forest’s peak carbon accumulation. Despite the debate, by all definitions, these forests are “climax communities” in ecology, meaning that they have moved through the stages of ecological succession and have reached a stable state. These old forests are not only beautiful, but they are also complex havens of biodiversity, providing refuge for plants, insects, fungi, and wildlife of great variety.

Over the past couple of decades, significant changes have taken place in scientific and societal understandings and valuations of old-growth forests. Advancements have been made in study, appreciation, and awareness of these old forests. Initiatives to identify and protect these forests have been increasing in scope and frequency in recent years. Educational exchanges and conversations around forest management, like those that occurred at the Eastern Old Growth Forest Conference, seek to address both passively and actively managing for old growth characteristics to promote the return of old forests.

Unlocking Your Forest’s Potential Through the Family Forest Carbon Program

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Adrienne Egolf of The Nature Conservancy

Landowner Eli Enman has always been committed to the long-term stewardship of his family’s forest, a ski resort called Sleepy Hollow. When he thinks of his 800-acre property, he thinks about the skiers and hikers exploring the trails, the animals roaming in every corner of the forest, the local logger harvesting firewood, and the future generations he hopes to pass the land down to.

“Personally, our whole family is really cognizant of global warming and the natural environment and doing our part to protect it,” he says. “We were wanting to do what we can, and enrolling our land in the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) allows us to contribute to climate change solutions by helping us store more carbon on our property.”

Developed in 2020 by two long-standing nonprofits, the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) enables family forest owners like Eli to earn income from their land by helping them participate in carbon markets. In addition to an annual income stream, the program provides professional guidance from a forester and a forest management plan that results in a healthier, more resilient, and more valuable forest.

FFCP is unique because it’s the first program of its kind to employ a groundbreaking carbon accounting methodology called dynamic baselines. The amount of carbon sequestered on lands enrolled in the FFCP is compared to very similar “control” forests not enrolled in the program. By measuring the difference between the forests in real time, the methodology can pinpoint FFCP as the sole variable contributing to the extra carbon benefit. This provides increased accuracy and credibility to the marketplace—and ensures landowners can feel confident about how their forests are contributing to climate solutions.

Across the country, nearly 40% of forests are owned by families or individuals, on properties with an average size of just 67 acres. These family forest owners are a critical piece of the puzzle in maintaining and improving carbon sequestration and storage in our nation’s forests. That is why the program is specifically designed for non-industrial private forest landowners.

Landowner Benefits

Enrolling in the Family Forest Carbon Program comes with a range of benefits for forest landowners:

Access to professional foresters for expert assistance for managing your forest (or the opportunity to continue working with your trusted consulting forester).
A customized forest management plan tailored to your goals and your property.
Guaranteed annual payments to help you reach your goals.
Practical resources to assist future generations in carrying on your legacy of good forest stewardship.
An opportunity to join a community of like-minded landowners.

If you or someone you know owns 30+ acres of woodland and could benefit from the guaranteed annual income, forest management plan, and forestry expertise provided by the Family Forest Carbon Program, please see https://www.familyforestcarbon.org/ .

Ecological monitoring with the Guild

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Brian LaRoche

This summer I had the opportunity to work for the Guild as an ecological monitoring technician. This primarily consisted of fieldwork. I collected data on vegetation, trees, groundcover, wild bees, and more. The wild bee collection was something new for me and it turned out to be very interesting. The data I helped collect is the baseline pre-treatment monitoring data for the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project (CFLRP).

Throughout the summer I worked with a variety of people ranging from other field technicians at Mountain Studies Institute, to permanent Guild staff, to a youth crew from Coyote, NM. Working with a diverse group of partners in the field was a highlight of my experience because it allowed me to see our work from a variety of perspectives. I recently graduated from Oregon State University in June, where I had attended a few field courses. However, this summer I

learned much more in the field than I did during those one- or two-week field courses. Working in a variety of ecotypes and forest types helped me improve my plant and tree identification for a larger landscape than what I have previously worked in. I observed how collaboration in natural resources takes place by attending the 2-3-2 Partnership’s quarterly meeting in August. Additionally, the variety of field sites allowed me to work in many beautiful natural areas that I may not have visited otherwise.

This summer position allowed me to continue to develop skills such as gear preparation for field work, teamwork in fieldwork settings, GIS and map making, as well as tree and plant identification. Working at the Guild has been a great experience, especially because everyone at the Guild holds such great passion towards land stewardship. The people I worked with, both within and outside of the Guild, really made the experience memorable for me.

NorthWoods Guild Gathering – an Autumnal Ramble in the Northeast Kingdom

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Maddie Eberly

October 6thin Greensboro, Vermont was a bit grey, and the autumn chill had settled in. Yet, for the group of Guild Members gathered at the Caspian Beach parking lot, nobody seemed to notice too much. Friends and colleagues greeted each other, exchanged laughs, and sipped steaming coffee. A holler gathered folks around for an introduction circle, launching into the first day of the NorthWoods Guild Gathering.

In the evening, we gathered at the NorthWoods Stewardship Center for a delicious meal. Following dinner, Sam Perron and Devan Pensinger led a presentation about NorthWoods’ forest management, commitment to local communities, and support of early career forest stewards and students. Folks then dispersed for the evening. Some played piano as others sat in chairs and couches talking about the intersections of their work and the day’s learnings or wandered off into the woods to find Oberon, the local barred owl.

As the Guild members parted ways, filled with the warmth of community and the thrill of digging into silviculture, the grey skies finally let loose. The smell of petrichor drifted up as rain thundered on the windshields of the vehicles traveling away.

Our weekend host, the NorthWoods Stewardship Center , has been a longtime partner of the Guild. They embody Guild values while stewarding the forests of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont – including the management of a Guild Model Forest! The NorthWoods Stewardship Center is a remarkable organization transforming seasonally from a small, localized staff to a large, well dispersed team of forest stewards working on projects throughout Vermont.

Leaving the beach, we arrived at the Vermont Land Trust’s Mud Pond location. Dan Kilborn and David McMath from the Vermont Land Trust alongside Tony D’Amato from the University of Vermont led us through the day with visits to various sites of an Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) study. The ASCC study project was designed to implement experimental, climate change adapted silviculture across various landscapes to inform the decision-making processes of forest managers.

October 7th started early with coffee and breakfast at Northwoods followed by a short drive over to the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge’s Nulhegan Division Refuge visitor center in Brunswick, Vermont. While gathered in the center’s parking lot, we were honored by a visit from Bren Whittaker, founding Guild member and recently recognized outstanding tree farmer . Stepping into the woods, Jeremy Goetz, Refuge Forester from the Nulhegan Division Refuge, and Tony D’Amato guided the group through a couple more ASCC sites managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. At each stop, Guild members engaged in thoughtful conversations, intrigued by the management at hand and how the mixed conifer treatments differed from the previous day’s adaptation approach to northern hardwood silviculture.

The gathering concluded with lunch and a closing circle where each attendee shared a takeaway from the two days – one of whom insisted it was the food which brought them to the gathering. Guild members were excited to learn about the climate change-focused forestry occurring in their region and connect with one another. Even if they had already visited one of the sites, there were novel conversations, new connections, and fresh observations. Longtime members were excited to see young professionals joining the gatherings, while the young professionals were excited to meet some of the original Guild members. Some folks in attendance were new to the northeast or traveled over from Maine, and all were excited to learn regional perspectives. “It’s the way life should be, but this is the way sugar maple should be!” said Tony D’Amato, taking a play at the Maine state’s slogan. Laughter bubbled up again and again.

Guild presence at prescribed fire workshops and strategic partnerships

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Michael Lynch, Amanda Mahaffey, and Colleen Robinson

As national support grows for addressing forest stewardship challenges created by centuries of wildfire suppression, the Forest Stewards Guild is increasing our engagement in fire networks across the country. Our staff have been involved with several regional and national prescribed fire workshops over the last couple of months. One of these was the Northeast – Midwest Regional Prescribed Fire Science and Management Workshop in Madison, Wisconsin from August 29 – 31, 2023. This workshop was for fire management partners across the 20 state NE-MW region to share region-wide, science-based, fire ecology information oriented toward expanding and maintaining the use of prescribed fire across all landscapes, jurisdictions, and fire-dependent ecosystems.

Amanda Mahaffey, Guild Deputy Director, offered the Leader’s Intent on the second day while Michael Lynch, Guild Great Lakes Director, presented and served on a panel discussion about Fire Needs Assessments. Throughout the workshop, many perspectives were shared related to prescribed fire’s history, successes, challenges, future, strategies, technology, community, and more. It was exhilarating to see, for example, a panel describing Indigenous fire, and how it is both similar and unique from most prescribed fire efforts, share space and time in this workshop with artificial intelligence technology engineers working to design solutions to some of today’s barriers to getting good fire on the ground.

This was a well-attended event and the provided a great opportunity for scientists, managers, and practitioners across the 20-state region to share prescribed fire related experiences, successes, and potential solutions to implementation challenges. Many students attended as well, sharing thoughts on what is needed to support the next generation of fire practitioners and build upon existing successes in local training and outreach programs. We were happy to see so many members and collaborators present and to make new connections around this work in a Guild region with a strong foundation in ecologically minded land stewardship.

Guild staff have also been part of the annual meetings of the Fire Learning Network, Fire Adapted Communities network, and Indigenous Peoples Burning Network meetings facilitated by The Nature Conservancy. We are “at the table” for strategic discussions of wildfire resiliency. In early November, Guild staff were integral to the National Cohesive Strategy wildland fire management workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This event highlighted the value of partnerships for enabling good fire to be restored to fire-adapted landscapes and showed off the importance of the work of the Guild in advancing ecological forest stewardship.

Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit – a recap on the 2023 event series

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Rhiley Allbee

Working collaboratively, the Forest Stewards Guild, Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG), Oregon State University – College of Forestry (OSU), Intertribal Timber Council (ITC), and private forestry representatives, have continued to lead the expansion of the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit (NIFS) as a space for regional learning, knowledge exchange, and ongoing cooperation to foster ecologically based forest management strategies. The NIFS 2023 Event Series focused on highlighting experimental forests, traditional and non-traditional, and their efforts in facilitating innovation and community within forest management and research.

The event series was kicked off at the end of August with the online webinar From Experimentation to Innovation in the Forests of the PNW . The webinar was opened with a welcome from Klaus Puettman of OSU’s College of Forestry and a blessing from Don Motanic, enrolled member of the Confederated Tribe of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and former Technical Specialist with the ITC. Paul Anderson, Director of the Pacific Northwest Research Station, provided us with a broad-spectrum view of experimental forests and discussed the challenges of finding a balance between long-term continuity and quickly changing information needs. Paul’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion made up of participants selected to represent perspectives and experiences in forest experimentation that are not directly related to traditional experimental forests. This provoked a fruitful discussion of some of the innovative work taking place in forests throughout the PNW. Panel participants included:

Brandy Saffell, Forest Conservation Specialist, Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District
Michael Wilson, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Tribal member, and former Natural Resources Department Manager
Teodora Minkova, Research and Monitoring Manager for Olympic Experimental Forest, Washington Department of Natural Resources
Lindsay Cornelius, East Cascades Oak Partnership Manager, Columbia Land Trust

The second event in the NIFS 2023 Event Series was a field tour on assisted migration that highlighted two projects in western Washington: Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center’s Assisted Tree Migration Project and Adaptive Restoration at Stossel Creek, a collaborative project owned by Seattle City Light. By the end of the century, climate change projections for the Northwest region suggest an increase in average annual temperatures and increased variability in precipitation leading to more frequent and severe droughts. Both projects are looking to the future and selecting seeds and seedlings that may be better adapted to our future climate.

At Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center, the conservation team, headed by Matt Distler, Ph.D., has established 1.2 acres of 12 potentially climate-resilient native riparian tree species along the Snoqualmie River. Seeds and seedlings were sourced from Washington and central and southwest Oregon. Matt gave us a presentation on the ecological context, ethical considerations, and strategies for climate-resilient restoration regarding assisted migration before walking us over the project site and giving us an overview of the planting design and monitoring plan. The conservation team will be monitoring height, vigor, survivorship, and bud phenology annually for 3 years and then again in years 5 and 10.

As a group, we then drove up to the Adaptive Restoration at Stossel Creek project. The site consists of 154 acres in the Tolt watershed east of Seattle, logged by a private landowner in 2012 and purchased by Seattle City Light in 2015 with funds intended to protect and restore quality salmon and steelhead habitat. Seattle City Light’s Ronda Strauch, Ph.D., provided us with the history and context of the site before Seattle Public Utilities’ Rolf Gersonde, Ph.D., gave us an overview of the project design and monitoring plan. Active restoration is taking place on 51 acres of the site with climate-adapted seedlings sourced from other regions interplanted with locally sourced seedlings as well as trees that naturally regenerated. Over the next decade, trial plots will be assessed to determine the viability of various species across the site and the success of seedlings sourced from separate locations. The project used the  Seedlot Selection Tool   to identify, and source seedlings from, locations with a current climate matching the projected climate for Stossel Creek in the mid and late century.

The third event in the NIFS 2023 Event Series was scheduled to take place at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in western Oregon but unfortunately had to be cancelled due to activity from the Lookout Fire. Our partners at H.J. Andrews, especially Cheryl Friesen and Fred Swanson, Ph.D., put a large amount of effort into crafting an extensive field tour and informative field tour. We thank them for their enthusiasm and their hard work. We hope to reschedule a field tour at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the future!

Thank you to all those who attended, supported, and guided the 2023 NIFS Field Tours! We especially want to give thanks to our presenters and hosts who allowed us to share in their knowledge and work! For information on past events and updates on future events please visit www.nnrg.org/nifs/ .

A Collaborative Effort for Ash in the Northeast

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Maggie Mansfield

The Forest Stewards Guild has been awarded a project under the USDA Forest Service Landscape-scale Restoration program to sustain ash across the Northeast in the face of emerald ash borer (EAB). As forestry and natural resource professionals, we periodically find ourselves watching in horror as some new pest or disease sweeps through our forests, overturning past practices, complicating plans, and breaking our hearts. So it has been with EAB, now causing widespread ash mortality as it spreads across the Northeast. Addressing such a destructive force requires innovative thinking, regional partnership, and complex problem solving.

The Guild is honored to collaborate with Tribal partners from Akwesasne and Wabanakik, as well as dedicated individuals and organizations in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine working to preserve ash for future generations. USDA Forest Service funding will be used to coordinate and ensure knowledge sharing across the Northeast, establish demonstration areas, create and distribute outreach materials, and host workshops and events for foresters and land managers to learn about and test emerging approaches for addressing EAB in ash stands.

Black ash (called brown ash in Maine) is a revered species to Indigenous communities of the Northeast, central to basketmaking, oral traditions, ceremonies, and legends. This project will elevate Indigenous voices and priorities to people within the forestry community whose decisions will determine the fate of Northeastern forests. In doing so, we hope to both preserve ash across the landscape and support Indigenous communities that have been burdened with the cultural and societal impacts of colonization over the centuries.

Though this project is only just launching, Guild staff are already involved in efforts to maintain ash within Northeastern forests. The success of this work depends on partnerships developed over years of collaboration, and in particular cross-cultural relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals and groups. In preparation for deepening this work, Guild staff have strengthened existing and built new partnerships with Tribal researchers and natural resource professionals, state agencies, academics, non-profits, and others across the region.

Amanda Mahaffey, Deputy Director, has participated in Maine’s Brown Ash Task Force, a group that formed decades ago when the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance approached researchers at the University of Maine to help investigate a general decline in black ash health. With other Guild members and collaborators, Amanda has contributed to two recent peer-review articles ( Species Preservation in the Face of Novel Threats: Cultural, Ecological, and Operational Considerations for Preserving Tree Species in the Context of Non-Indigenous insects and Pathogens and Towards Tree Species Preservation: Protecting Ash Amidst the Emerald Ash Borer Invasion in the Northeast ) and a brand-new outreach publication ( Managing Northeastern Forests Threatened by Emerald Ash Borer ) outlining the opportunities to alter the trajectory of EAB’s impacts. These publications add to the 2019 workshops and 2020 publications developed with Vermont partners ( For Foresters: Ten Recommendations for Managing Ash and For Landowners: 10 Recommendations to Help You Manage Ash in Your Woods ).

In July 2023, Maggie Mansfield, Northeast Region Manager, attended the Basket Makers Ash Resource Gathering hosted by the Mohawk St. Regis Tribe in Akwesasne. Over several days, basket makers, Tribal natural resource managers, and a wide range of professionals working to preserve ash shared knowledge, grief, and hope for this culturally significant tree species. Attendees built connections and relationships, shared strategies for navigating the ecological and societal aspects of ash and EAB management, and planned for the continued spread of EAB. In March 2023, Amanda and Maggie facilitated a panel elevating Tribal perspectives on managing ash in the face of EAB at the Northeastern Forest Pest Council meeting in Lake George, NY.

Northeastern forests and their inhabitants have lived through, and learned from, the near total loss of several tree species in the past century. Though the stories of American chestnut, American elm, and the extensive ash mortality seen across the Midwest present a chilling preview of one potential future, it is still possible to take actions that will maintain ash within our forests. This project, built on learning from other regions, informed by local research, and guided by Tribal perspectives, aims to re-write the story for ash species while there is still time. Over the next three years, we look forward to sharing more about ash, its management, and project outcomes with you.

To learn more about the Guild’s work in sustaining Northeast ash, contact Maggie at maggie@forestguild.org .

Climate Adaptation and Forest Resilience – A tour of the Forest Guild Properties

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Emily S. Huff, Michigan State University

In early August 2023, the Academy of Natural Resources hosted the inaugural Forest Frenzy track in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This week-long academy is co-hosted by The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Forest Association and brings 20 K-12 teachers together for natural resource focused professional development. This 2023 cohort experienced Michigan’s forests through basic classroom learning and field trips throughout the Upper Peninsula, including the Keweenaw peninsula, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness area, and other sites.

Midweek, the 20 teachers were joined by Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science instructors Stephen Handler and Mattison Brady to learn about climate change adaptation and forest resilience at two Forest Stewards Guild Properties – one in Nisula and one on Lake Annie Road in Hancock, Michigan. Teachers hiked through the properties and learned about Emerald Ash Borer, the need for species diversity and structural complexity, and the basic climate scorecard foresters can use to ensure they are managing forests for resiliency. At the Lake Annie Road property, we discussed the challenges of managing small parcels – the reality for many family and individual private landowners in the U.S.

Teachers marveled at the differences between the two sites and the importance of considering the unique ecology of a site. They were surprised to learn that the desire to set up a timber sale did not always lead to a completed timber harvest. The Guild sites were a perfect setting to learn about forest stewardship under changing climate conditions.

Editors note: A little about the parcels we visited: The Guild owns six parcels of land in Houghton County Michigan totaling 330 acres. The parcels were gifted to the Guild in 2016 from the estate of Fred Prince and his organization Forest for the Future. Guild staff worked with an intern from Michigan Tech University (Russel Lipe) and a local forestry consulting company Green Timber to develop a management plan in 2017 and enrolled in The Nature Conservancy’s Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) FSC® – C008922 Group Certificate in 2018 along with Michigan’s Commercial Forest Program. These parcels have also been incorporated into the Guild Model Forest Program with a focus on demonstrating ecological forestry on small ownerships.

Carbon Markets Made Accessible to Family Forest Owners

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Josh Fain, LandYield

Editors note: Josh Fain is a Guild member who has been working on forest carbon for years. He shared a project in the PNW in 2020 ( U nlocking Carbon Markets for Family Forest Owners in the Pacific Northwest ) and discusses a new program below. 

Family forest owners collectively manage one-third of all forests in the United States. With such a significant footprint, these landowners hold immense potential for making meaningful strides in carbon reduction and addressing climate change. Studies have made clear the important role forests and climate smart forestry practices like extending harvest rotations have to play in capturing and storing carbon and mitigating the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the climate.

However, carbon markets have not been accessible to family forest owners in the past due to a number of factors, including the high cost of project development and monitoring, the low price of carbon, and the long-term contracts required for participation.

As our Position Statement on Forest Carbon Offset Credits highlights, “Forests have tremendous potential to mitigate climate change.” The Guild Position Statement also recognizes the complexity of carbon offset programs and notes that “only carbon offset credits that assure additionality and permanence, and can be independently verified as doing so, can facilitate achieving the full climate mitigation potential of well-managed forests.”  

Introducing the LandYield carbon program

LandYield is a new program that is changing the landscape of the carbon market by making it accessible to family forest owners with between 40 and 5,000 acres. By utilizing the latest in high-resolution satellite imagery combined with ground data from the U.S. Forest Service to streamline and accelerate the mapping and monitoring of forest carbon, LandYield effectively eliminates the previously prohibitive costs of participation for landowners while issuing high-integrity offsets by adhering to rigorous American Carbon Registry standards.

LandYield’s program also offers a number of other benefits to family forest owners, including:

Flexible participation: Landowners can choose to enroll only the acres they want and have the flexibility to continue using their land for other purposes, such as recreation and hunting.
Guaranteed revenue: Landowners receive quarterly payments for up to 20 years for the carbon their forests sequester.
Expert support: LandYield’s team of forestry and carbon experts manages all monitoring and reporting requirements, so landowners can focus on enjoying their forests.

Benefits of Carbon Projects for Family Forest Owners

Family forest owners express values that make them particularly well-suited for carbon projects. They often prioritize preserving recreational opportunities, wildlife habitats, the beauty of the land and family legacy when making forest management decisions. In addition to the financial benefits of participating in a carbon program, there are several other environmental benefits for family forest owners, including improved biodiversity, water and soil quality, and the improved aesthetics of an older forest. Revenue from carbon programs like LandYield can also help alleviate pressure on family forest owners to sell or develop their land, helping ensure their environmental legacy for future generations.

How to Get Involved

If you are interested in learning more about carbon programs, there are a few things you can do:

Visit the LandYield website ( https://landyield.com/ ) to learn more about the program, get a free revenue estimate and contact the team with any questions.
Visit Penn State Extension Forest Owner Carbon and Climate Education website for a list of resources: FOCCE | Resources (psu.edu)
Use the resources available on the Forest Stewards Guild website and look out for upcoming webinars about forest carbon programs: https://foreststewardsguild.org/?s=carbon

In the crucial years ahead, carbon-smart forest management can make a substantial difference for our climate and communities.

Large Southwest partnership gets a new podcast

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Alex Handloff, Mountain Studies Institute

How do you know space? How are you shaped by the landscape you live in? When was the last time you just listened to your surroundings?

For us at The Stewards Guild and our partners at Mountain Studies Institute (MSI), we like to remind ourselves that our work is the world we live in, the one right in front of our noses (once we leave the office).

But what about beyond our noses? For example, how can we know five million acres? I mention that number for a reason. Let me explain.

The 2-3-2 recently created a podcast, The Dirt and D ust, to explore people, places, and peculiarities of the 2-3-2 and Rio Chama CFLRP. The first episode follows Alex Handloff, Collaborative Communications Manager at MSI, who caught up with a through hiker on the 2-3-2 landscape, covering 35 miles in a couple of days on the Continental Divide Trail, exploring the idea of knowing a large landscape more intimately by walking through it.

The episode, Five Million Acres or Roughly the Size of the Moon , will air on September 19, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. MT on True Taos Radio . You can also listen to the podcast online or on your favorite podcast service in the near future. Stay tuned for more episodes over the fall and winter, covering stories about beavers (or the lack thereof), environmental monks at Christ in the Desert Monastery, the power of partnerships in the town of Chama, NM, and more. 

The Dirt and Dust is brought to you by the 2-3-2, Mountain Studies Institute, the Forest Stewards Guild, USDA Forest Service, and Zebulon Croll.

Space and distance are funny things. We have a very good sense of them at human scales, but at large scales, our ability to perceive becomes wildly inaccurate. Five million acres happens to be the size of the 2 Watersheds – 3 Rivers – 2 States Cohesive Strategy Partnership (the 2-3-2), coordinated and supported by The Forest Stewards Guild and Mountain Studies Institute. The 2-3-2 works collaboratively, bringing together government agencies, tribal partners, non-profits, community members, and more to make decisions collectively about our forests, rivers, wildlife, and communities in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. The largest project of the 2-3-2 is the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project (CFLRP) which is part of a congressionally approved program designed to increase the resiliency of forests and watersheds in priority forests across the US through partnership between collaborative groups and the US Forest Service.

Introducing Erika Rowland on Guild staff

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The Guild’s newest employee, Erika Rowland, brings a fresh perspective to the organization’s mission and work, having long viewed the world through the lens of changing climate and vegetation.

Growing up in central Maine in an old farmhouse with a wood-fired furnace and a sugar house, Erika had plenty of early exposure to the region’s mixed northern hardwoods forests. Maple syrup is a wonderful gateway to the forest products industry. Despite this, archaeology was initially her chosen career…until she stumbled onto paleoecology. The concept that the environment is ever-changing in in response to climate—present, past, and future—triggered a major course-correction.

Erika now holds an M.S. from the University of Alaska in Quaternary Studies, where she studied spruce stand dynamics in response to 20thcentury climate warming at tree line in northern Alaska. Hooked on forest ecology across multiple timescales, she followed up with a PhD in Forest Resources at the University of Maine, reconstructing natural disturbance regimes in TNC’s Big Reed Preserve. A long ago “brown bag” lunch at the university introduced her to the Forest Stewards Guild and its unique forest-first mission.

Since then, Erika has worked in regions across North America in applied conservation, resource management, and the then-emerging field of climate change adaptation. Jobs have taken her (and her now travel-weary family) from Maine to Arizona, and to the Northern Rockies and back again. Work with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s North America Program, specifically on applying multiple tools and approaches to bringing the lens of climate change into natural resource planning and practice, strongly influenced her interest in joining Guild staff on their work toward building resilience in forest systems across the U.S. Even in her most recent position as a land trust executive director, Erika made time and secured funds so that a group of neighboring land trusts could reconsider their regional land protection priorities and forest management strategies with climate change in mind.

Erika is thrilled with the opportunity to return to her roots in climate change and to support managers in effective response to its impacts in her new role as Eastern Director with the Forest Stewards Guild. She comes to her new position with a suite of project management, organizational leadership, grant-writing skills, which she is immediately applying in her work with the Northeast and Southeast programs.

Away from her home office in Maine, Erika enjoys exploring the natural world with her new pup, Fern, a well-written novel, a delicious meal cooked by her son, and, even after several decades, splitting wood to heat the family home.

“We are thrilled to have Erika on the team! Her varied background and experience across the US show through in her creativity and ecological understanding. Her time leading a land trust will help the Guild in our efforts to better serve the land conservation community.” – Zander Evans

Written by Erika Rowland

WV WOW connects with women farmers

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

WV WOW program coordinators and Guild members, Amy Cimarolli and Barb Breshock, introduced the program to women farmers last November through participation as vendors at the Women in Agriculture Conference. In WV, most farmers maintain forestland, or at least a woodlot, on their acreage that is too steep, rocky, or unproductive for other agricultural endeavors.

Amy and Barb were delighted with the interest in our informational table (boosted perhaps by chances at forestry books and other door prizes!): 31 women signed up to be part of the WV WOW email group, and of those, 23 expressed an interest in the spring workshop (May 5-7) and 17 in Women Focused Chainsaw Training (June 10).

Met were several women involved with other WV groups interested in exploring partnerships with WV WOW! These groups will help spread the word of WV WOW’s resources and community to women woodland owners in their network. One group involved in urban farming and small business development shared their community’s interest in small native fruit production, and from that discussion came the idea of co-hosting an event around elderberries – growing and processing them into usable and marketable products! We are excited about this development that connects foresters with urban landowners and small business incubators!

Amy and Barb thoroughly enjoyed meeting the organizers and participants at this conference. Recognizing the value of WV WOW’s knowledge and resources for women farmers, the organizers invited WV WOW to provide a 50-minute presentation at next year’s Women in Agriculture Conference! The many topics that woodland owners should be aware of to maintain their forest’s productivity and diversity will be presented to engage and encourage women to participate in WV WOW’s field programs to learn more!

Written by Barb Breshock

Wildlife Forestry in Bottomland Hardwood Forests

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Dakota Wagner

Editor’s Note: This project managed and enhanced natural stands of bottomland hardwood forests in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana for the benefit of wildlife species and freshwater systems. The Guild and partners performed strategic and targeted outreach to 3,073 private forest landowners and practitioners, engaged 218 forest landowners and natural resource professionals through workshops and trainings, prepared forest management plans for 16 high-priority private landowners, and implemented enhancement activities on 1,109 acres of private lands and 300 acres of state lands. We thank our project partners LDWF, The Nature Conservancy’s Lower MS River Program, and Enviva Biomass for their involvement and support.

What is “Guild-style” forestry? To me, it includes the tenets of ecological forestry with an added personal flair. Those who practice Guild-style forestry are curious, not afraid to try new things, and think on the ecosystem level. In my work with the Guild, I have come to learn another term for this type of practice: wildlife forestry.

In November 2019, Duck Locascio spoke at a Learning Exchange in Baton Rouge, LA hosted by the Guild and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). He is a forestry program manager for LDWF and is one of the many advocates for wildlife forestry in the region. He described the practice as “managing forestland to improve wildlife habitat, as well as overall forest health, while improving timber stand conditions, providing for forest regeneration, and producing forest products in an ever-changing environment.”

I must admit though, that the definition didn’t sink in until I got to see it for myself this past May.

Since 2019, LDWF and the Guild have been partners on a National Fish and Wildlife funded project focused on promoting wildlife forestry practices in bottomland hardwood forests of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. As a part of the program, LDWF created two demonstration areas at Grassy Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and Elbow Slough WMA exemplifying wildlife forestry concepts. The outcome of this work was to showcase wildlife forestry in bottomland hardwood forests through promoting desired tree species, increased forest structural diversity, increased tree-age class diversity, increased biodiversity, increased habitat for at-risk wildlife species, and increased overall forest health and resiliency.

The demonstration sites were harvested in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic made it difficult to travel from my home office in North Carolina to Louisiana until May 2023. During the WMA tour with LDWF, I was joined by Guild member Jeff Denman and two students from the Mississippi State University Guild Student Chapter – a mini Guild Gathering.

There are three things that stood out to me that day:

When implementing wildlife forestry practices in bottomland hardwood forests of this region, ‘wildlife’ also extends to fish. This inclusion is due to the recurring flooding during various months of the year.
State wildlife agencies often have greater freedom in embracing innovative approaches. For example, during a timber harvest LDWF requested that their contractor purposefully inflict controlled damage to select trees. This was done in hopes of expediting the decay process and deliberately creating cavities tailored to the habitat requirements of certain species. While at the site, Marc “Buddy” Dupuy, wildlife forester with LDWF noted “Don’t brainstorm with LDWF in the room if you don’t actually want us to try it.” When I think about Guild-style forestry, this is a perfect example.
While learning new forest types, it is equally as important to experience the accompanying local culture. The two international students and I were able to enjoy crawfish handpies for the first time during a lunch time pit stop. Needless to say, I still think about them while home in the mountains of North Carolina.

forestry, wildlife forestry, and bird-friendly forestry are used. Regardless of what you call it, practicing forestry in a way that promotes ecologically, economically, and socially responsible management will be what sustains our forests into the future.

Introducing Dana Guinn on Guild staff

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Dana joined the Guild in May 2023 as the Southwest Partnership Manager. While the main focus of her work is coordinating the 2-3-2 Partnership and working on the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program , she is also developing Foresters for the Birds programming in the Southwest and working with the Women Owning Woodlands Network. A Colorado girl all her life, Dana looks forward to continuing to work on creative solutions for a climate altered future with a broad variety of partners in rural communities in southwest Colorado and northern New Mexico, and to sharing successes and working through challenges with a national community.

After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder where she majored in geography, anthropology and environmental science, Dana completed her master’s in integrated agricultural resource management at Colorado State University. Prior to joining the Guild, she developed professional values and perspectives working in public education, marketing, journalism, and the non-profit sector. Her work as a secondary mathematics teacher also led her to earn a master’s in culturally and linguistically diverse education from Adams State University. These experiences have led her to focus heavily on building relationships, emphasizing community values, and supporting critical thinking among those with diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Dana is excited to continue coordinating collaborative processes for ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry and natural resourcemanagement in the southwestat the Guild, where she’ll lend her skills in facilitation, project management, program development and communication to the team.

In her free time Dana enjoys gardening, rafting, reading, and serves as a school board member in Archuleta County, where she’s made her home in Pagosa Springs since 2013. 

Note from Supervisor Esmé Cadiente: We’re thrilled to have Dana join the Guild as the Southwest Partnership Manager. Dana has been building and coordinating essential partnerships in the landscape for many years. Her expertise in managing partnership and funder relations with the 2-3-2 Cohesive Strategy Partnership and the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Restoration Program project will further the Guild’s initiative to collaboratively develop solutions to move project outcomes forward and help fulfill the Guild’s mission of ecological forestry in the Southwest United States.

Written by Dana Guinn and Esmé Cadiente

Learning Drives Innovation in the Pacific Northwest

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Peter Hayes

Join me in imagining several linked scenes that will take place in the coming months. They’re so familiar to all of us – a circle of bluejeaned, booted, sun hatted or hard hatted, lively folks on the side of a road or trail, surrounded by vibrant forest, listening intently to one another – and a virtual, zoom-assisted circle of the same ilk, complete with tanned faces backed by shelves of books that you can’t quite make out. The combination of these scenes will take place in August and October thanks to this year’s learning opportunities made possible by the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit (NIFS) . Both forms of circles, virtual and welcomely real, will gather participants with valuable differences and important commonalities. Since it was launched in 2021, NIFS has creatively drawn together diverse and committed mixes of forest-connected Northwesterners to explore the vital role of practical innovation in forestry, past, present, and future. The Guild is one of five partner organizations driving NIFS’ success.

This year’s mix of virtual and in-forest activities will explore the roles of experimentation in general, and our region’s experimental forests in particular, in supporting forest-related innovation. The differences among the participants will reflect NIFS’ ongoing success in building and using bridges. These bridges span across sectors of the forest community (public, Tribal, private, non-profit), generational (youngest students to wise elders), geographic (treating the Columbia River as integrator, not as divider), and gender, sexual orientation, cultural heritage, and more. Differences become assets thanks to the group members’ common bonds, of which, I anticipate two will stand out. All will bring shared interest and commitment to forests and mutually sustaining relationships with forests. I expect a second common bond will be that each participant will bring their own, unique involvement with a progression of activities:

Step one: observing the stresses and challenges shaping local forests.
Step two: framing questions and related learning.
Step three: experimentation in hopes of answering the questions.
Step four: innovatively applying the newly acquired knowledge to help address the challenges and relieve the stresses.

When step four loops back to connect with step one, another circle may be formed that leads to ongoing and familiar cycles of observation, questioning, investigation, and innovative application of new knowledge.

These cycles have been a part of all forested lands for as long as humans have lived and depended on them. Regardless, there is always so much more we can learn from them. In addition to the learning opportunities offered by NIFS, excellent learning resources are all around us. In anticipation of the upcoming workshop focused on our region’s experimental forests, I lost myself in three relatively recent books. Each book is focused on one of the forests that we’ll have to postpone visiting with NIFS in 2023, due to current wildfires. But we can read Robbins’ A Place of Inquiry, A Place of Wonder and Luoma’s The Hidden Forest to carry us into the H.J. Andrews Forest ’s remarkable history and contributions. The value of these books is enhanced when read in combination with Herring and Greene’s Forest of Time; A Century of Science at Wind River Experimental Forest . With Wind River being established in 1910 and the Andrews in 1948, the work of both reflect the ever-shifting nature of the questions that society judges to be most pressing. While all three books dig deeply into the stories specific forests, they also help us appreciate how their histories and research questions reflect the dramatic evolution of the relationships between people and forests in this region and the wider world.

Time will tell where explorations of the upcoming NIFS-sponsored webinar and field workshop at Stossel Creek in Washington will lead, but I am confident that all participants will value the ways that our shared inquiry, learning, and connection-building leave us inspired and better equipped to meet the challenges ahead.

Our Youth Corps’ Collective Post-fire Restoration Efforts

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Cora Stewart

This July, the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) had the opportunity to help with a post-fire restoration project located on the Calf-Canyon Hermit’s Peak burn scar in Las Vegas, New Mexico for four days. As wildfire risk increases globally due to climate change, it has deeply impacted the state of New Mexico; its economy, community, watersheds, and ecosystems. According to the USDA Wildfire Risk to Communities tool, New Mexico has a 78% higher risk for wildfires compared to other states, being in the 78th percentile for risk of homes, and 73rd for wildfire likelihood.

This was evident in 2022 when New Mexico had its largest wildfire in recorded history, the Calf-Canyon Hermits Peak Fire. This fire burned nearly 350,000 acres and destroyed over 900 structures, many of which were uninsured, disproportionately impacting land grants and other communities with limited financial resources and generational ties to the land, including members of the FSYC program. The Guild wanted to help these communities and educate our members about how this fire has impacted not just humans, but the landscape itself.

On the first day of our project, our work partners, the Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance, showed us around a piece of property where watershed restoration structures had been built. These included trash racks, built from logs, as well as one-rock dams. Both structures collect sediment while allowing water to flow through to keep the watershed from cutting deeper into the earth and lowering the water table. It is important to keep the water table high so that plants and trees can access it through their root systems. Our partners further explained how the Sapillo watershed was heavily affected by the fire, due to the severity of the burn. High-intensity fires burn off all vegetation which increases erosion and makes soils hydrophobic, increasing flooding. As members learned about watersheds, they also learned why this restoration work was so important and saw how these structures worked in action.

For the next three days, crew members got their hands (and faces) dirty by moving burned logs, collecting rocks, and putting over 15 restoration structures together with the Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance youth crew.

Members learned the details of creating restoration structures and why. For instance, while building one-rock dams, it is important to lay a foundation of flat rocks as a splash pad to absorb the water’s energy to prevent it from cutting into the watershed. After each day of work, members got to go swimming in a nearby lake, play baseball, volleyball, and football, and simply enjoy being out in nature.

For many members, this project was their favorite part of this year’s FSYC program. Members learned about watersheds, worked hard, made an impact on the community, and had a lot of fun. Even our neighbors camping next to us noticed the hard work getting done and brought cookies over on the last day to celebrate with us. The impacts of this project are evident, not only on the landscape but also on our FSYC participants.

Introducing Collin and Alyssa – welcome to Guild staff

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Collin McElroy, Alyssa Mineau, with additional notes

Collin was drawn to the Guild because of the focus and scope of the work the Guild does. Landscape scale multi-party monitoring and extensive place-based partnerships are daunting and exciting at the same time. He is excited to bring his experience of ecological monitoring to the Rio Chama CFLRP and other projects the Guild is working on. Outside of work, Collin is excited to be in the Santa Fe area because of the birding (very into listing on eBird), the extensive disc golf presence, and the ample exploration possibilities.

Note from supervisor Cody Dems: Collin brings a depth of monitoring expertise and ecologic curiosity that will be invaluable for measuring, analyzing, questioning, and improving the Guild’s and our collaborative partner’s landscape-scale monitoring efforts. This is no small task, but Collin’s holistic thinking and energetic approach will advance the Guild’s budding and current projects. Please join us in welcoming Collin to the Guild’s Southwest office!

Alyssa recently joined the Guild to serve as the Fireshed Project Coordinator—focusing on restoring and maintaining fire resilient landscapes across the Southwest. Her passion for natural resources began in her youth, as her family spent their summers traversing across the western National Parks, from Lava Beds to Glacier to Canyonlands. She earned a degree in Biology (A.S.) and Natural Resources (A.A.), and worked as a wildlife technician for the Forest Service. While working on her undergraduate degree, she assisted researchers across several departments, with studies ranging from plant spatial ecology to isotope dendrochronology. After earning a degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (B.S.), Alyssa shifted her focus to Forestry—as her home county was scorched by the North Complex Fire and Dixie Fire in California. Her graduate research focused on working collaboratively with private landowners to manage invasive species in the West Gulf Region, earning her a degree in Forest Resources (M.S.).

Within the Guild, Alyssa is excited for the opportunity to continue to work with private landowners through the Fireshed Ambassador Program, as well as undertaking on-the-ground projects to make a meaningful impact to the regional forest health and fire resiliency. She was drawn to the Guild for their balanced approach to forest management—one that prioritizes management strategies that are inclusive, equitable, and effective. She hopes to bring an interdisciplinary, multi-lens approach to solving these complex management challenges throughout the Southwest.

A note from supervisor Gabe Kohler: In her first month of work with the Guild, Alyssa has alreadydemonstrateda nuanced understanding of the issues we face in the Santa FeFireshedrelated to the balance between public safety and ecological forestry in the wildland urban interface. Her experience working with private landowners, attention to detail, and uncompromising dedication to equity and inclusion are a great resource to the Santa FeFireshedCoalition and to the Guild as a whole.

Collin is our new Ecological Monitoring Coordinator. He will primarily be working on the Rio Chama CFLRP, coordinating data collection and data management. Collin was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, and has now lived and worked in every Western State besides Arizona and Idaho. He graduated with a B.S. in Biology with a focus in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Oregon in 2016. He has multiple years of experience conducting avian surveys and conducting plant, forest, and rangeland surveys. He has worked for the U.S. Forest Service and Park Service, in private sector consulting, and for non-profits and he is excited to be back in the non-profit world.

Shortleaf Pine Restoration on the Cumberland Plateau

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Shawn Swartz

The Southeast Region of the Forest Stewards Guild recently finished a multi-year project on the Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky and Tennessee focused on the restoration of shortleaf pine on public and private lands. Beginning in 2019, the project was funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and supported by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and saw the Guild partnering with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation (TWF), the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Berea College, and The University of the South at Sewanee. Shortleaf pine is a fire-adapted species associated with poor soils and frequent disturbance. Due to changes in how humans interact with the landscape, the presence of shortleaf pine is declining across much of its native range, as well as associated species such as the prairie warbler, pine warbler, and wild turkey.

The project supported shortleaf pine restoration on private and public lands by conducting prescribed burns and other enhancement activities on over 4,000 acres, planting nearly 1,500 acres of shortleaf pine, and enhancing over 1,500 acres of shortleaf pine ecosystems. Additionally, the project supplied private landowners with shortleaf pine restoration plans, trained individuals in the use of prescribed fire using state and federal standards, and engaged in educating landowners, practitioners, and the public in the importance of prescribed fire through interpretive signage, workshops, and webinars.

This work is a continuation of an earlier project to build the foundation for increased capacity for shortleaf pine restoration on the Cumberland Plateau, bringing the total time we and our partners have engaged in this work to six years. The project weathered many significant challenges, such as staffing changes and of course, a global pandemic. The success of the effort is due to phenomenal, dedicated work toward project goals and partnerships that have grown over time and continue to mature, providing significant positive impacts that none of us could accomplish alone. The landscape, wildlife, and human communities in the region are richer for the actions of the collective work. In the future, we hope to extend our work on the Plateau to include white oak in addition to shortleaf pine. We appreciate the opportunity to engage in this effort with our partners.

Southwest Tribal Fire Climate Workshop

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Rachel Bean

As the climate in the southwestern United States grows warmer and drier, wildfires are likewise expanding in size and severity. Threats to wildlife, watersheds, water storage, cultural resources, communities, and more are increasing as a result. Given these changes to the known historic fire regime, land managers and stewards face new tribulations in their ecological restoration work.The exchange of knowledge is a necessary component in overcoming these challenges. It provides the space to craft creative solutions which improve and inform our collective approach to managing for landscape resiliency.

Recognizing that Indigenous communities have unique expertise and communal knowledge as well as unique resiliency needs, the Forest Stewards Guild, Southwest Fire Science Consortium, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, and Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals came together in spring 2023 to host an Indigenous-planned, -led, and -centered knowledge exchange workshop.This three-part SW Tribal Fire and Climate virtual seriesfocused on increasing tribal capacityin New Mexico and Arizonato address wildland fire and the impacts of a changing environment.

After two days spent workshopping and visiting a riparian and upland resiliency project which uses fire as the primary restoration tool, the group made significant progress on their goals of brainstorming cooperative solutions andestablishing a process for working together on shared challenges. The experience reaffirmed a desire to work across boundaries to care for communities and the land and to reinvigorate the use of fire, something which has been a keystone element of Indigenous land stewardship for millennia.

More than 100 participants from Tribal governments and organizations, federal and state agencies, universities, and research, planning, and other organizations attended the workshops. Over the course of three mornings, each staged two weeks apart, attendees listened to keynote presentations by Indigenous colleagues and broke into small groups to discuss topics such as climate adaptation planning and implementation, cultural and prescribed burning, the legacy of fire suppression on tribal lands, workforce development related to fire and natural resources, and the mechanics of mutually-beneficial collaboration and coordination.

In mid-March, just a few weeks after the SW workshop series, the Pueblo of Tesuque hosted an inaugural meeting of the New Mexico Tribal Fire Working Group, facilitated by the Forest Stewards Guild and The Nature Conservancy. This group came together to share experiences and leverage resources around pressing wildfire and prescribed fire issues – ecological challenges and change, capacity limitations, bureaucratic choke points, and more – which universally impact New Mexico tribes, pueblos, and Native nations.

An overall theme is that these workshops and working groups represent only the first step in building Indigenous fire and climate capacity and resources. The Guild and other conveners of the 2023 Southwest Tribal Fire and Climate workshops are planning a 2024 series which will focus on training programs for fire use, empowering Native nations to enter into partnerships and agreements for cross-boundary work, and continual knowledge and culture exchange. The Guild, TNC, and others are also working to organize several Tribal Fire training days in the fall and a spring 2024 working group meeting. Both aim to establish a robust resource for Indigenous fire managers, planners, and practitioners in the Southwest by tackling challenges such as NWCG certifications, burn plan writing, and sharing inter-tribal fire resources.

Forest Stewards Youth Corps Orientation 2023

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Cora Stewart

The Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) program started strong this year with a week-long training. The five youth crews from Northern and Central New Mexico camped together at Glorieta Adventure Camps, right outside Santa Fe. Crews were excited to meet each other, learn more about the program, and get some experience on the ground.

The first day of training focused on the Forest Stewards Youth Corps program’s goals, the Guild’s larger mission, and our work partners’ missions. FSYC has the goal to provide service, training, education, and employment opportunities to the local youth of New Mexico while increasing the capacity of federal and local land management agencies.

Eytan Krasilovsky, the deputy director of the Guild, talked about the rich 25-year history of the FSYC program and then discussed the many ways the Forest Stewards Guild works toward our mission of responsible and sustainable forestry. We then had our work partners from the Pueblo of Jemez Natural Resource Department (POJ NRD) and the National Forest Service (FS) come to speak about their work and mission. Eytan raised a great question to our work partners,

“What do you wish you knew about the workforce when you were 18?”

Each of our partners answered insightfully, from letting people know that plans change, to pushing through difficult times, to pursuing their professional goals despite social pressure.

On the second day of training, members went through a CPR/First Aid course in the morning. Members started with learning the first steps in an emergency- assessing the scene and calling 911. They then got to practice their CPR skills on mannequins. The second half of the course focused on general first aid and blood-borne pathogens.

Crews then headed to the National Pecos Historical Park to learn about the history of New Mexico. Members walked through an interactive museum, hearing stories from Pueblo members, and learning more about the traditions that still define many cultures in New Mexico today. We then had a ranger lead a tour across the ancestral lands, where we learned about the large trading post Pecos Pueblo once was, the Spanish Conquistadors, and the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

The next day of the training, crews finally got to get their hands dirty. For many members, this was their favorite day of the week. Carlos Saiz, the Guild’s Fire and Fuels Coordinator, and Dayl Velasco, the Guild’s newest Program Coordinator, lead a discussion on safety. They highlighted the dangers of monsoon season, how to properly use tools, and why personal protective equipment can save lives. Crews then got out on two trails in Glorieta, Chili Dog and Holy Moly, where they helped maintain the trails by clearing loose rock, and branches.

When everyone returned from the work project, we continued our discussion about safety and reviewed how to stay emotionally and mentally safe while on the job. We then talked about truck safety and had everyone learn how to change a tire.

The next and final morning, the Guild led an active bystander training, where crew members learned how to intervene in uncomfortable situations. We had an activity where people got to practice shutting down hurtful and inappropriate comments using scenarios. In the afternoon, Sam Berry, the Southwest Associate Director, led a goal-setting activity, where each crew discussed their personal and professional goals. Members then packed up and headed back to their land management office to jump into the rest of the field season.

*Editor’s note: stay tuned on social media, our FSYC page, and elsewhere for more highlights on crew member goals and progress!

Remembering Orlando Romero

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The Forest Stewards Guild community mourns the loss of an amazing person, forester, fire practitioner, leader, and mentor: Orlando Romero. Orlando was senior forester at the Guild’s southwest office until his retirement in 2015. True to his title, Orlando was a key source of knowledge and strategy.

“I learned fire management, forest ecology, but most crucially Orlando showed how to navigate personal dynamics with grace, equanimity, and good humor.” says Zander Evans

As a US Forest Service Fire management officer, Orlando would ensure that wildland urban interface communities saw a little smoke every year to help inure them to the annoyance and remind them that they lived in a fire-adapted ecosystem. Without Orlando’s expertise, it is unlikely that the Guild would have been able to enter into the world of prescribed fire. Orlando’s knowledge and experience were the foundation for the Guild’s early success with prescribed fire. He had a healthy respect for fire as a tool but wasn’t afraid of fire.

Former Southwest Director Matt Piccarello reflects that, “I learned from Orlando that Forestry is as much about relationships with people as it is about trees. He really exemplified the Guild’s approach to Community Forestry, that of working closely with local partners, and I am very fortunate to have had an opportunity to work alongside Orlando.”

Orlando passed on April 4,2023 and was preceded in death by his wife Lydia Romero. Orlando’s legacy lives on in the forests he helped steward and the people he mentored.

Written by Zander Evans and Eytan Krasilovsky

Orlando demonstrated a gentle, but effective approach to community engagement. He was expert in patiently talking and working with residents to understand their perspectives and help them understand how forest management could help make their homes safer and forests healthier.

Orlando was also the central figure behind the Guild youth program in the Southwest. Orlando helped make the Forest Stewards Youth Corp the vibrant program it remains today. He would travel across New Mexico interviewing and encouraging young adults to engage and step up to the responsibilities of stewardship. At the same time, he wouldn’t tolerate recklessness and wouldn’t shirk from firing participants who put others at risk. Through over a decade of Orlando’s leadership in the youth program, he shaped a generation of New Mexicans who now have a deep appreciation and understanding of our forests and watersheds.

“Orlando was generous with his time and always provided a story to accompany the advice. The stories were the pearls of wisdom that everyone who knew him can carry forward.” says Eytan Krasilovsky.

Welcoming Dayl to Guild staff!

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Dayl comes to the Guild with a love of the Southwestern wilderness and many seasons of environmental field work under her belt. Her background lies in ecological monitoring—conducting botanical and soil surveys—and technical trail maintenance projects—constructing rock and timber structures and cutting new tread. She also has experience working as a sawyer on forest thinning treatments, and in prescribed fire, wilderness medicine, native habitat restoration, and permaculture design. She studied the intersection of sustainable agriculture and earthen construction techniques and received her Directed Studies degree (B.A.) from Northland College.

Dayl was drawn to the Guild because she wants to engage in work that supports and enhances the health of our forests and the communities that surround them. After attending a Women in Wildfire training session with the U.S. Forest Service two years ago, Dayl knew she wanted to continue working to foster fire use to restore forest health.

In her work with the Guild, she is looking forward to engaging with the community and helping to expand the Fire Adapted New Mexico Learning Network. She is also excited to use her monitoring know-how while working on holistic monitoring for ecological resiliency as part of the Zuni Mountain Collaborative. When not at work, you might find Dayl drawing pen and ink critters, tending to her plants, playing her flute, or getting outside and being active.

From Southwest Project Manager, Rachel Bean: Dayl brings a rich and varied background to the Guild with her experience in ecological monitoring, restoration, and fire. As a former member of our All Hands All Lands prescribed fire Burn Team, she is the perfect fit to help us grow New Mexico’s Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network and the Guild’s Southwest Region fire program, among other work. We are so excited to have Dayl become a part of Guild staff and invite you to join us in giving her a very warm welcome!

Written by Dayl Velasco and Rachel Bean

Prescribed Fire Awareness Training in Central Minnesota

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Mike Lynch

The Guild lead a Prescribed Fire Awareness (JAA 338) training at Camp Ripley in Central Minnesota for Natural Resource Conservation Service, Soil and Water Conservation District, and Pheasants Forever staff May 23 – 25, 2023. This training was provided for staff that frequently interact with landowners and intended to give them a baseline understanding of prescribed fire and how it could be used by the people they work with as a land management tool where ecologically and logistically practical. The training included presentations on fire history, cultural uses of fire, prescribed fire techniques, burn plan development, demonstration of common tools, tactical simulations, and culminated in a ‘down range’ field tour of burn units on Camp Ripley.

This was the second cohort we have brought through the training (our June 2022 e-newsletter article shares details about the first cohort) and complements the Landowner Learn and Burns and Burn Plans we have been developing in the region. Stay tuned for the next scheduled Learn and Burn on September 22, 2023.

A great team of presenters made the training possible. Carlos Saiz, Christian Nelson, and Timo Rova joined Michael Lynch to lead the content delivery along with support from Camp Ripley staff Josh Pennington, Jason Linkert, Lew Noska, and Tim Notch and guest presenters Lane Johnson (University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry Center) and Jason Anderson (Pheasants Forever). We thank everyone who participated too! It’s all part of bringing good fire back to ecosystems that depend on it.

The photos capture a lot! If you have questions about this project or related work, please contact Mike Lynch, mike AT forestguild.org.

Welcoming a growing Guild staff for more positive impact!

Thu, 18 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Compiled from several Guild staffers…

The Guild continues to find aligned partners and funding to launch meaningful initiatives across the landscape. Recent hires, and more on the way in in the Eastern U.S. and Southwest region, are a testament to the relevancy of our shared vision. The Guild organization and our members fulfill a trusted role for landscape-scale movement toward ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry as the standard. We are thrilled to regularly bring new energy and perspectives onto our staff roster, providing administrative support, program development, and key collaboration skills to empower practical skills-building and partnerships across boundaries!

his month, we welcome two of our newest staffers. Christian Nelson is our Lake States Region Coordinator and Judi Beal is our Business Coordinator in the Southwest headquarters office.

Christian has been professional forester in the Lake States for over 25 years working with state agencies and Native American tribes. He has a passion for science-based, ecologically focused, and pragmatic forestry practices. With a belief that people have a place in the environment and therefore have a responsibility to be good stewards Christian is proud to be part of an organization that promotes good, sustainable, science-based land management, research to fill knowledge gaps, and targeted outreach to help promote good stewardship. He has a B.S. in Wildlife Management from Saint Cloud State University, completed the coursework for an M.S. in forest management at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, gone through the National Advanced Silviculture Program, and holds certificates in GIS and computer programming. Outside of work, Christian is a disc golfer, mountain biker, canoe camper, hunter, amateur musician, and routinely slays (pretend) monsters in a game group.

From Lake States Director, Mike Lynch: We are very excited to have Christian join the Guild staff. Christian brings a wealth of experience and perspective to our region. His primary, initial focus will be on the Forestry for Minnesota Birds program, blending silviculture with songbird habitat enhancement. Christian seems like the perfect person to do that. He will also support other regional and national projects and help enhance the Guild member experience through regional events. Please join us in welcoming Christian to the Guild .

Judi brings a diverse background of skills and experience in the environmental and healthcare worlds to her role as Business Coordinator for the Guild. While pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies at UNC-Asheville she worked in the Grassroots Field Office of The National Parks and Conservation Association holding positions from administration to advocacy and outreach. After a summer volunteering with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in southeast Utah, she was hired as a Backcountry Ranger and then transitioned into the office to implement the first Fee Demo Program for the BLM. After several years with the BLM she moved back to Asheville, North Carolina to be closer to family and to work as manager of Group Education Programs with the North Carolina Outward Bound School. Her love of learning led her to pursue a degree in the healthcare industry where her career has been focused (for the past 10 years). Joining the Guild has brought her back to her environmental roots. Judi lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her husband and enjoys anything in the outdoors, listening to music, and most recently playing KLASK.

From Business Manager, Fallon Grafe: We are excited and privileged to work with Judi. Her background in the healthcare and environmental sectors gives her a unique perspective, making her an excellent advocate for Guild employees. Her enthusiasm for learning the ins and outs of Guild operations is motivating and she will help us grow in the best way. Welcome Judi!

The Guild’s role in old growth policy

Thu, 18 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans and Rhiley Allbee

All Guild members can agree on the value of old growth forests. Old growth forests offer critical ecosystem services. They provide wildlife habitat, stabilize hydrological regimes, facilitate nutrient cycling, store carbon, and contribute to numerous other ecological processes. The unique structures and attributes of old growth forests support a wide range of species, including some that are old growth obligates. Old growth forests inspire a sense of awe, offer recreational opportunities, and hold spiritual value for many of us.

Given the importance of old growth forests, it is not surprising that in 2022, the Biden administration released Executive Order (EO) 14072 on old growth and mature forests. The EO highlighted the need to protect old forests in the face of increased stress from climate change and invasive species. After its release, it became clear that some more radical campaigners planned to use the EO to advocate for a halt to management in stands more than 80 years old. This resuscitation of a zero-cut agenda would be counterproductive to the preservation of old forests and push an intensification of timber harvesting to areas with less stringent environmental oversight. The Guild submitted comments to this effect, along with many other conservation organizations.

Since then, the Guild has continued to actively engage in the policy discussions around the EO. Rhiley Allbee, the Guild’s Coordinator in Washington state, has compiled an in-depth look at how forest collaboratives have addressed old growth forests. The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program has brought together people who care about forests to find common ground in particular landscapes across the country. In many cases, they have come up with site specific and effective ways to preserve old forests. These approaches can offer models for the US Forest Service implementation of the EO. The Guild also brings our collective experience in efforts to foster old forest characteristics in younger forests – as discussed in our autumn 2022 edition of the Forest Steward magazine.

As part of their implementation of the EO, the US Forest Service developed a narrative framework and working definitions for old growth and mature forests based on pre-existing definitions and discussions with collaborators. This allows for stable and long-term common definitions of old growth and mature forests that can be used across regions and forest types. The working definitions are directed by the narrative framework while being specific to regions and forest types and containing quantitative criteria that reflect measurable structural characteristics. Using these definitions, the US Forest Service inventoried and mapped initial estimates of old growth and mature forests across Forest Service and BLM lands showing a combined total of about 33 million acres of old-growth and about 80 million acres of mature forest. These figures represent 18% and 45% of all forested land managed by the two agencies, respectively. The information from this initial inventory will be used to assess threats and inform forest management as required by the EO. You can access and read further on the Fulfillment of Executive Order 14072, Section 2(b): https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/mature-and-old-growth-forests-tech.pdf .

The Guild is currently working with other conservation organizations to respond to the US Forests Service request for feedback on old growth and mature forest mapping.

One Guild episode in a forest’s story, on a most honored set

Tue, 16 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Andy Shultz and Kyle Burdick

If a forest is a story, or many stories, about the living embodiment of all that has happened in a place over time, a place of trees that is, then a day in the forest is one episode in the series. On May 4, 16 Guild members and friends gathered to witness such an episode on the Baskahegan Company woodlands in Topsfield and Kossuth, in far Eastern Maine.

Baskahegan is the name of a large lake, 6,815 acres in size, and surrounded by Company land. The name, from Peskihikonok , means “turning-off place” in the Passamaquoddy-Maliseet language. This refers to a portage used for centuries to get from the Penobscot River drainage to the St. Croix, now the border between Canada and the U.S.

The day began with introductions, everybody circled up in the parking area near the mouth of the 1934 Burn Road, named for a fire that covered over 4500 acres of the company’s land south of the Lake. It was a hot fire, fueled by plenty of slash left over from recent logging, stoking temperatures on the ground enough to burn away already scarce topsoil, which had barely begun to form in the 10 or so millennia since the glacier left town. Ice and fire are two instances of significant earlier episodes occurring previously, at this place, in this series.

One way the current forest embodies the consequences of these early episodes is the abundance of red pine, aka pinus resinosa, aka Norway Pine, which contrary to the name is not invasive, but also not common in the absence of fire.

After the intro circle, we all traveled down a relatively new and very well-constructed gravel road to a wide spot, then walked a less traveled woods road. Passing through encroaching spruce, fir, and pine limbs, on a gentle upward grade, helped us warm up on the low-forties, damp and overcast morning. At a particular flagged spot, we left the trail, walking into a stand that showed little if any human touch. Picking our way through and around downed wood and trees of all shapes and sizes effectively broke up the clumps of conversation. As intended by Kyle Burdick, Woodland Manager and Vice-President of Baskahegan Company, each of us now engaged in interior dialogue with our selves, as we stepped deeper into an 1100+ acre interior forest, designated as an ecological reserve in the Company Forest Management Plan. Though this represents less than 1 % of the Company’s 150,000+ acre total holdings, it felt like much more. Passing by 24” dbh quaking aspen, beautifully gnarly old yellow and white birches, and plenty of spruce but very little fir, we stopped at a solitary white pine, easily 4 feet across. There aren’t a lot of white pine in the area, in fact the entire tract comprises far more balsam fir and reddish black (or blackish red) spruce, than white pine. More red pine too, at least for now.

John Manganello, Baskahegan’s President, first read their Land Acknowledgment:

“For millennia, before the spread of white colonialism and the founding of Baskahegan Company, Wabanaki peoples lived in close relationship with and cared for the lands we currently own. An archaeological site neighboring our lands dates back 12,000 years, making our century of family ownership but the blink of an eye.

Acknowledging the horrific history of forcible removal from indigenous homelands, disease, warfare and cultural genocide, we recognize we are the beneficiaries of past and ongoing injustices. We honor Wabanaki peoples from the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, M’ik-maq and Maliseet tribes who have called, what we know as Maine, home forever. We celebrate their presence and support their courage to seek justice and are grateful for their dedicated cultural practices despite continuing racism, oppression and harm.

We commit to being good neighbors with Wabanaki peoples. We have entered into agreements that support Wabanaki collection of traditional materials on Baskahegan lands and have collaborated on policies covering the care of artifacts found here. We look forward to developing further collaborations as we deepen our relationships. We hope our principles of ownership reflect some of the multi-generational ethic of the Wabanaki, the original stewards of these lands, for the well-being of future generations.”

The concepts of “co-management” with the original stewards of the land, as well as the impacts of forest use, and lack of use, was discussed. Leaving with fresh eyes, we headed back to the gravel to assess more recent management practices, a manner of holding us (colonists) accountable to what could have been.

The catalyst for this day’s event was the elusive black-backed woodpecker. Frequenting northern conifer forests, particularly those that are flooded or burned, the bird is very seldom seen this far south. It had, however, been routinely seen nearly annually for the last 2 decades. Those observations have dwindled. Baskahegan Company is genuinely interested in the species and is seeking an answer as to why the sightings have dropped off. Is it the forestry implemented? Is it climate change? Have the birds simply moved- possibly to the ecological reserve or other parts of the property?

Joe Roy, IFWs Private Land’s Wildlife Biologist, who came along to offer habitat assessment and advice, had this to say:

“Since forest characteristic like age, species composition, and density, change over time, so can the wildlife communities in response. Changes in a stand, and subsequent wildlife use, may not always be apparent year to year due to their subtlety, but may be more obvious when comparing records from decades past. In the case of species like the black-backed woodpecker, they are utilizing very specific characteristics for their lifecycle. The woodpeckers prefer large tracts (average of 370 acres) of mature northern softwoods, particularly spruce-fir. They prefer flooded or burned stands with cavity trees that have a DBH of greater than 12 inches and are greater than 60 feet tall. Flooded or burned stands provide a high number of standing dead trees that lead to an abundance of food in the form of bark and wood boring insects. As a stand begins to revegetate after being burned, or flooding subsides (think of a beaver flowage where a dam is breached) conditions may become less favorable for the woodpecker. By following a shifting mosaic management approach like Baskahegan, as some areas become less suitable for certain species of wildlife, others may become more suitable.”

Woodpecker and other bird and mammal habitat needs and observations were made throughout the day. Subtopics included fire, the conservation of natural red pine, the construction of a “floating” road through a bog, Baskahegan’s dedication to shelterwood silviculture, and of course, wood markets.

The President of Baskahegan, John Manganello, described his family’s land ethic, and how they think about business. “How we make money is just as important as the money we make.” John says as he described the family motto. John quoted his second cousin, and previous Baskahegan President, Roger Milliken, who described why a family-owned company differs from others. “When we think about the future, in a family company that’s not an abstract notion. We hold our grandchildren; we walk hand and hand with them. So, our caring for the land, as a gift and a responsibility to them, is just baked in.”

Baskahegan Company’s story started off with a hard lesson on sustainability. Shortly after purchasing the land in 1920, the company defaulted on a stumpage agreement because there just wasn’t any wood left. Previous decades of heavy harvesting and a spruce budworm outbreak left an estimated average of 2 cords per acre. The town of Danforth, literally and figuratively, was built from the wood flowing from Baskahegan lands, and it began to fall apart. The “core lands” (owned since 1920) now boast around 22 cords per acre, with a nearly balanced age class distribution. Unfortunately, Danforth’s wood economy never recovered.

Our last stop was to see some recent pre-commercial thinning in understory fir and spruce, which had been established by successful first and second stage shelterwood cuts, the company’s primary silvicultural system,

Kyle: “In an ownership of this size, investing in a bank of fast growing, high yield acres allows you to harvest mature trees more quickly because you know they will be replaced more quickly. It’s essentially paying for itself immediately. However, past market predictions on spruce and fir have fallen well short of expectations. It’s also questionable that the trees you are favoring today are going to be the trees you wish you had 15 years from now. Because of this, Baskahegan now builds diversity into its PCT programs. Retaining a mix of species and even structure. But are there better uses of capital? With an appetite to grow, perhaps using the money to buy more land is a better option.”

The day ended in a similar way to the beginning, in a circle of people, with minds full of all they had seen, heard, and internalized all day. Each shared their predominant feeling or take-home nugget of knowledge. At least one person there expressed the desire to return in a few years, to see what happens in future episodes.

To be continued…

Forestry for the Birds in Western Oregon

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 19:15:00 GMT

Written by Maura Olivos

After three years, with funding from Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District, Oregon Community Foundation, and the assistance of a dedicated advisory committee comprised of local agencies, the Forest Stewards Guild has developed and published Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon – A guide to enhancing forest habitat for birds and humans (the Guide ). This benchmarking effort was made possible with the technical assistance and support of the Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon State University, Portland Audubon, Trout Mountain Forestry, Tualatin Soil & Water Conservation District, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The purpose of the Guide is to act as a communication tool for natural resource service providers and forest landowners to support healthy forests with birds in mind. The Guide focuses on forest structure, habitat characteristics specific to 12 focal birds across eight forest types, and long-term management at any stage or condition of a forest. The Guild will be distributing 1,000 copies throughout the year to partners, forestry professionals, and landowners. Additional workshop resources are also in development and will be supplied, free to all, on the Guild website once completed, including an easy access and printable online version of the Guide .

Workshops

The Guild is offering three workshops for the Spring of 2023 . Each of the workshops are partnered with local service providers – including two Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) and Oregon Small Woodland Association (OSWA) – and targeted towards natural resource professionals and woodland caretakers . Each workshop has been pre-approved for 3 SAF (Society of American Foresters) continuing education credits . Other credits are being requested (such as ISA). Please find additional information on available workshops at the links below.

The Flight from East to West

Foresters for the Birds was originally developed with Audubon Vermont and Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation in response to declining forest bird populations. It was recognized across the northeast and nation, that many of our forest and woodland tracks are on private lands. This provided a focus for the program on the engagement of woodland owners. With an eye and hear on songbirds, some of the most charismatic woodland occupants, the success of the program is within the integration of silviculture and songbird habitat enhancement. The program supports foresters with tools for effectively communicating with landowners and managers about the benefits of managing forests with bird habitat in mind. As practices are implemented to support songbird habitat, reciprocally the presence of certain bird species indicates the presence of specific forest structure elements and forest health conditions. Now the program exists in various forms ( Forestry for the Birds or Bird-Friendly Forestry ) within the Southeast, Midwest, and now Pacific northwest, and soon to be within the Intermountain west.

Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon uses the science behind birds, forestry practices, and community engagement to offer a guide for greater forest health across the Western Oregon landscape. The Guide breaks down Western Oregon by the most common forest types within each ecoregion: Klamath mountains, Willamette Valley, Western Cascades, and the Coast Range. The focal bird species chosen are common birds that range across the Western Oregon landscape yet have specific habitat associations with the forest types highlighted in the Guide . With a focus on forest structure from the ground to the canopy the Guide walks practitioners, landowners, and other forest stewards through a process to identify birds, forests, and forestry associations in developing a unique approach to goal setting and forest management.

Some of the notable inclusions within this Guide are the incorporation of riparian and oak habitats. As policies change for forest lands, the Guide is aptly timed to provide a greater perspective to the function of riparian zones. Riparian habitats serve as a hub for diverse forage and source for regeneration of nearby gaps and recent harvests through birds, which is one of many roles’ songbirds play in the bigger picture of forest health. In addition, recognition is brought to Oregon’s native oak trees from the Klamath ecoregion all the way up to the Columbia River. Oaks are not commonly thought of as a forest or forest product, yet they have played a historic ecological and cultural role in Western Oregon’s landscape and may still be reprised as this landscape responds to changes in climate and management.

It is well known that songbirds are incredible indicators of environmental conditions, as the canary in the mine wistfully comes to mind. With rapidly changing forest landscapes, birds continue to play a role as indicator species and the Guide honors this role by applying it to forestry. With birds in mind and in response to a changing forested landscape, this Guide purposely focuses on common bird species with the goal of keeping common birds common, and forests forested , across the Western Oregon landscape. “ Forestry for the Birds gives land managers of all backgrounds a new and transformative lens for forest management and opens a whole new world on a walk in the woods” remarks Forest Conservation Specialist, Brandy Saffell from Tualatin SWCD.

To learn more about the development and application of the Forestry for the Birds : Western Oregon Guide join the Forest Stewards Guild and partners at an upcoming workshop this spring. If you are interested in bringing a Forestry for the Birds workshop to your community within Western Oregon, contact Maura Olivos, maura@foreststewards.org .

Advances Using Remote Sensing Data to Map Forest Disturbances

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Sarah Wegmueller, Townsend Lab, University of Wisconsin, Madison

In July 2019, thousands of acres of trees in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest blew down in a 100-year storm. Salvage efforts had to start somewhere, but where? District silviculturist John Lampereur desperately needed help mapping the extensive damage, and the normal resources were already overwhelmed. I thought there had to be a better way, given newly available remote sensing data and techniques on the scene.

For years, the most prominent mapping tool was ForWarn , a web-based mapping tool that allows users to locate areas of high change. This is a wonderful system that uses the MODIS satellite data, with new imagery available daily. The trade-off with that timely delivery though, is that the spatial resolution is very course – pixel sizes of 250 meters (about 820.21 ft) It is difficult to draw the precise boundaries that salvage harvests require using only ForWarn’s maps.

The satellite imagery seen on Google Maps is neither widespread nor prevalent. That imagery is costly to collect and is generally not updated frequently. The satellites that collect the imagery often seen in Google Maps or news stories are usually not the same satellites scientists can use for mapping forest disturbances on an operational scale.

Fortunately, the inventory of satellites producing data that can be used has greatly expanded in the past decade. Even better, this has occurred at the same time our computational resources and machine learning modeling skills are improving by leaps and bounds. In short, new doors are open to us that we’re still exploring. Not a moment too soon, either, as climate change drives storms to increase in severity and COVID-19 kept many forestry professionals out of the field for an entire growing season.

Watching John struggle galvanized me to create a system capable of mapping severe damage using satellite imagery with a spatial resolution of 3 to 10-meter pixels, data that only became available in 2016. I call this system Astrape and it has since been used to map tornados, wildfires, hurricane damage, and spongy moth defoliation . But it was not the only system created in response to such a need. Concurrently, HiForm was also developed to map severe disturbances and uses the Google Earth Engine platform. Other systems would follow, including at least two systems that use NAIP imagery with a resolution of less than 1 meter and that can map things like oak wilt and emerald ash borer mortality ( TCH , and TreeCAP, pending publication).

Many of the systems from this new cohort are available to use now, but the word is still getting out about their existence. To be clear, none of these new tools are meant to replace professionals on the ground. However, they greatly reduce the mapping struggles like those John faced and highlight the areas where forestry professionals may want to focus their limited time. In other words, they are “force multipliers.” And they will only get better.

My research applications explore continued improvements and accessibility of these tools. Astrape is also mentioned in the Guild’s spring 2023 Forest Steward magazine (coming soon), and later this year I intend to share more. I hope that it is useful for the Guild community and other stewards creatively working to keep up with novel and challenging times.

Forestry for the Birds – Western Oregon

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Maura Olivos

After three years, with funding from Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District, Oregon Community Foundation, and the assistance of a dedicated advisory committee comprised of local agencies, the Forest Stewards Guild has developed and published Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon – A guide to enhancing forest habitat for birds and humans (the Guide). This benchmarking effort was made possible with the technical assistance and support of the Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon State University, Portland Audubon, Trout Mountain Forestry, Tualatin Soil & Water Conservation District, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Workshops

The Guild is offering three workshops for the Spring of 2023. Each of the workshops are partnered with local service providers – including two Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) and Oregon Small Woodland Association (OSWA) – and targeted towards natural resource professionals and woodland caretakers. Each workshop has been pre-approved for 3 SAF (Society of American Foresters) continuing education credits. Other credits are being requested (such as ISA). Please find additional information on available workshops at the links below.

The Flight from East to West

Foresters for the Bird was originally developed with Audubon Vermont and Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation in response to declining forest bird populations. It was recognized across the northeast and nation, that many of our forest and woodland tracks are on private lands. This provided a focus for the program on the engagement of woodland owners. With an eye and hear on songbirds, some of the most charismatic woodland occupants, the success of the program is within the integration of silviculture and songbird habitat enhancement. The program supports foresters with tools for effectively communicating with landowners and managers about the benefits of managing forests with bird habitat in mind. As practices are implemented to support songbird habitat, reciprocally the presence of certain bird species indicates the presence of specific forest structure elements and forest health conditions. Now the program exists in various forms (Forestry for the Birds or Bird-Friendly Forestry) within the Southeast, Midwest, and now Pacific northwest, and soon to be within the Intermountain west.

About the Guide

Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon uses the science behind birds, forestry practices, and community engagement to offer a guide for greater forest health across the Western Oregon landscape. The Guide breaks down Western Oregon by the most common forest types within each ecoregion: Klamath mountains, Willamette Valley, Western Cascades, and the Coast Range. The focal bird species chosen are common birds that range across the Western Oregon landscape yet have specific habitat associations with the forest types highlighted in the Guide. With a focus on forest structure from the ground to the canopy the Guide walks practitioners, landowners, and other forest stewards through a process to identify birds, forests, and forestry associations in developing a unique approach to goal setting and forest management.

To learn more about the development and application of the Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon Guide join the Forest Stewards Guild and partners at an upcoming workshop this spring. If you are interested in bringing a Forestry for the Birds workshop to your community within Western Oregon, contact Maura Olivos, maura@foreststewards.org .

The Guide is now available free online!

An Innovative Approach to Reforestation in the Rockies

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Katelynn Martinez, Director of Operations and Business Development, OneCanopy

Amid a global pandemic in the fall of 2020, thick black skies and sidewalks riddled with crisp pine needles blanketed the northern Colorado Front Range. Two of what would become Colorado’s largest wildfires in history, the Cameron Peak Fire and the East Troublesome Fire, roared across the Colorado front range swallowing up vast swaths of forest, habitat, and homes in their wake. The devasting impacts of climate change were knocking on Colorado’s doorstep.

A few months following those seemingly apocalyptic events, The Nature Conservancy and United States Forest Service released a study exploring the country’s aggressive reforestation goals. The researchers concluded that the U.S. needs to produce more than 30 billion trees to adequately address large-scale deforestation from climate change and human-induced disturbances, which requires “additional investments to expand capacity for seed collection, seedling production, workforce development, and improvements in pre- and post-planting practices” (Fargione et al., 2021). In Colorado alone, there’s more than three million acres of reforestation potential and at the time of publication, existing tree producers could only meet 20% of the need, even when operating at full capacity.

Upon reading the article, Colorado-based entrepreneur and passionate conservationist Kevin Brinkman felt compelled to act and founded OneCanopy, Colorado’s first reforestation company. Envisioning a world in which human’s relationship with the environment is symbiotic and supportive, the company aims to engage in all facets of the reforestation pipeline, beginning with a seedling nursery growing plants that are native to the Rocky Mountain region. In their inaugural year, OneCanopy has produced over 300,000 seedlings which will go to support wildfire and river restoration, soil conservation, and food sovereignty efforts.

The flexibility that comes with being a private entity allows OneCanopy to broaden collaborations and tailor their services to meet the needs of their customers . OneCanopy’s client list is broad and includes federal, state, and local governments, nonprofits, tribal agencies, and private landowners. Over time, OneCanopy plans to add project financing and implementation, seed collection, outplanting, and post-project monitoring to their list of services. Their goal is to serve as a “one stop shop” for reforestation in the Rocky Mountains.

Recognizing the importance of community within reforestation, OneCanopy has positioned itself as a social enterprise where profits are reinvested in the company in order to expand their reforestation and restoration potential. They also have community impact goals focused on education, volunteer opportunities, nonprofit support, and skilled workforce training, to further strengthen the larger reforestation community and pipeline.

As the climate continues to change and instances of catastrophic disturbance increase, human-assisted reforestation is proving critical to sustaining our forested ecosystems. Innovative and sustainable solutions are needed to address this complex and pressing issue. OneCanopy hopes to serve as a model for how private industry can play a role in reforestation in the Rocky Mountain region.

References:

Fargione, J., Haase, D., Burney, O., Kildisheva, O., Edge, G., Cook-Patton, S., Chapman, T., Rempel, A., Hurteau, M., Davis, K., Dobrowski, S., Enebak, S., De La Torre, R., Bhuta, A., Cubbage, F., Kittler, B., Zhang, D. and Guldin, R. (2021). Challenges to the Reforestation Pipeline in the United States. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.629198

Editor’s note: OneCanopy is now a Forest Stewards Guild organizational sponsor .

Book review of “A Trillion Trees – Restoring Our Forests by Trusting in Nature” by Fred Pearce

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Fred is an accomplished journalist, book writer and video producer from the UK, with decades of experience examining environment and forest issues in tropical, temperate, and boreal forests. This 2021 book does a fantastic job of examining forest and forestry issues globally, providing different perspectives that are perhaps new to some as well. Everything from restoration (notable as we are in the UN-sponsored “Restoration Decade” now), contrary observations on the role of slash and burn agriculturalists in deforestation, and helpful reflections on the role of Indigenous peoples as forest stewards, is considered. His wording is nuanced. My “take home message” is that Fred understands the complexity of forest solutions – none are “perfect” – in the real world. He has spent quality time with innumerable forest/forestry lovers, activists and professionals and uses that experience to tell good stories. I was surprised how quickly time passed when reading the book. The stories include astute reflections on the complicated, perplexing, sometimes contradictory or frustrating roles of government, retailers, retail brands and the forest products industry, even pundits and NGOs, on deforestation and sustainability. He visits many places around the world, covering the Amazon, the unique Chaco ecosystem in Paraguay, small-scale chainsaw/pitsaw harvesting versus industrial scale degradation in Ghana, the Kenyan “water towers” dynamic, and boreal forests of Canada, among others.

Per the subtitle of the book, he argues to avoid the myopia of just focusing on tree planting as a solution to deforestation, putting a calculated bet on “assisted natural regeneration” as a more cost-effective reforestation solution in many locations. For example, I live in Vermont, where we were down to around 15% forest cover just over 100 years ago. Now we have 78% largely native species forest – virtually all of it coming back from what many think (even today) were previously “useless” fragments of degraded forest in steep areas and beyond. Fred communicates that one person’s “degraded forest” is another’s “hope for the future” for regenerating natural forest ecosystems globally. At the same time, he points to how resilient forest ecosystems (and grasslands) are – far more so than too often painted – if we would just give them a chance. But this book covers much more than restoration. It is a 275+ page-turner on international forest issues social, political, environmental, even technical at times. It also provides useful recommendations on further readings. For this widely experienced reviewer, Fred’s book illuminates, which is a valuable virtue during these “climate-challenged” times. It also may be particularly valuable for those seeking a better understanding of trees, forests, deforestation, and climate change in a global context. Good stuff!

Written by Richard Donovan

Locally sourced, locally sold: “Good Wood” in New Mexico

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Rachel Wood, a longtime Guild member and professional forester, saw a need for a new kind of wood products market in New Mexico. Markets for sustainable forest goods were closed to most local producers as well as to wood harvested from Forest Service land. Rachel envisioned an innovative verification and marketing program designed to improve the health of Southwestern forests, so in 2016 she applied for and received Collaborative Forest Restoration Project (CFRP) funding to launch Source Verified Good Wood ™ ( GoodWood ™).

BGNM inspects and rates buildings in four categories: Energy, Water, Indoor Air Quality, and Sustainability; and awards four levels of certification: Code-plus, Silver, Gold, and Emerald. Builders who use GoodWood™ products can now earn points towards Gold or Emerald certification with BGNM, making them eligible to receive the transferrable Sustainable Building Tax Credit (SBTC). Administered by New Mexico’s state forestry division, SBTC is one of few such programs in the nation.

GoodWood™ fits perfectly with BGNM’s goal of figuring out how to source more building materials locally and sustainably. All partners involved in this initiative, including the Forest Stewards Guild, believe in the tagline – GoodWood™ is a good idea – and are excited to see the immediate and long-term benefits to builders, producers, forest workers, forests, and the economy alike.

Compiled by Rachel Bean

GoodWood ™ verifies the source location and sustainable practices used to harvest trees on Forest Service, tribal, private, and state trust lands. This process ensures that the firewood, lumber, vigas, latillas, and other products bearing the GoodWood™ logo are guaranteed to have come from a project which is restoring watersheds, reducing wildfire risk, and buoying local economies in the Land of Enchantment. Once verified, a chain-of-custody system is used to track wood products from the forest through the supply chain to the consumer, ensuring that sustainable practices are followed.

As one element of expanding the market for locally sourced and -sold forest products, GoodWood™ set its sights on ensuring that member products would be included in New Mexico’s premier green building industry. In January of this year, GoodWood™ and collaborators announced a partnership with Build Green New Mexico (BGNM) in an innovative effort to support the use of responsibly harvested wood products.

Meet Rhiley, in the Guild’s Pacific West office

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Based in Seattle, WA, I began working for the Forest Stewards Guild as the Pacific Northwest Region Coordinator in November of 2022. I am excited to be with the Guild again after having worked as a Program Assistant in the SW office in 2019 and having been a student Guild member at Michigan Technological University.

I earned my B.S. in Biology at Saginaw Valley State University and M.S. in Forest Ecology and Management at Michigan Tech. I paired my graduate studies with Peace Corps service, in which I worked as an Agroforestry and Extension Agent in rural Senegal, and I conducted research for my master’s thesis. This experience gave me a greater empathy and understanding for the ways in which people use and interact with their environments. After completing my M.S., I spent a short time working for the Guild in the SW office as a Program Assistant prior to starting the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellowship that led to me working on the Global Green Growth Institute’s (GGGI) Sustainable Landscapes team in Seoul, South Korea and remotely with their Landscape Investment team in Indonesia during the pandemic. During that time with GGGI, I had the opportunity to work on a range of projects across multiple countries all focused on climate change adaptation and mitigation in vulnerable landscapes. I hope to use this experience to expand the Guild’s work related to climate informed ecological forestry.

I look forward to connecting with Guild members across the Pacific Northwest and hope to see many of you at upcoming events this year related to the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit and Forestry for the Birds.

“I am really excited for Guild members in the Pacific Northwest to meet Rhiley Allbee,” says Lake States Region Director Michael Lynch. “Rhiley brings valuable experience, enthusiasm, and a pragmatic approach to the Guild.” The Guild looks forward to expanding our work in the Pacific West and having Maura and Rhiley support partners in the northwest region.

Written by Rhiley Allbee

A return to burning as usual after everything has changed

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The Glorieta Pile Burn in the Landscape of the Hermits Peak escaped prescribed burn
Written by Carlos Saiz and Sam Berry

The 2022 fire season was one for the history books in

New Mexico. I started with the Forest Stewards Guild as the Fire and Fuels Coordinator just after the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon (HP/CC) Fire was ending. As this was the largest fire in the state’s history caused by 2 prescribed fires, New Mexicans were left extremely nervous when it comes to smoke in the forests, making my new responsibilities in prescribed fire a bit more challenging.

Glorieta Adventure Camps (the Camps) is located on over 2000 acres of forested land that has thousands of visitors each summer and is home to 100 full-time residents. It is located just to the southwest of the HP/CC fire. When thousands of people in northern New Mexico were pushed out of their homes because of the wildfire, the Camps took in many of the evacuees. Much like their surrounding neighbors, the Camps have been anxious about wildfires, and with so much at stake, they chose a proactive approach to wildfire resilience, including treatments such as thinning, masticating, and creating burn piles.

Starting in 2020 we combined efforts to begin pile burns. This is an effective way to reduce fuel loads in forests at risk for wildfires, lowering the severity of future wildfires and improving forest resilience. Led by our burn boss, Sam Berry, we have safely and successfully burned many acres of slash piles each year with our firefighters, partners, and Camp’s staff. Because the Camp is mostly south facing, snow comes and goes quickly, and our crews have had to go the extra mile to patrol and mop up pile burns in the days after each burn.

After the devastating fire year in New Mexico, burning that had become routine faced new obstacles, such as public distrust of prescribed fire and anxiety from permitting agencies to allow burns. After securing the support of the district’s County Commissioner, we applied for a burn permit from the Santa Fe County Fire Department. They required us to revise our burn plan to meet the new US Forest Service requirements, which typically don’t apply to NGOs. Once these changes were complete and they had inspected the unit, they finally felt comfortable enough to issue us their blessing through a permit to proceed with the burn.

To be transparent and to settle any concerns from locals, we doubled our communications efforts from previous seasons. We hosted a field tour to show our pile burn process at the camps. Despite numerous attempts to reach residents through local flyers and email blasts, this tour had few attendees. This left us wondering if the local community was unconcerned with the burn or if we hadn’t reached people.

We also issued a press release that gathered attention following the catastrophe of the HP/CC wildfire. Newspaper articles and T.V. broadcast interviews helped spread the word that although we felt deeply for the victims of the fire, we believe the work of reintroducing fire is important enough to continue.

One community leader that heard of the burn through a news story asked us, “Why?” Worry dominated our conversation and “Salt in the wound” was his initial reaction, but after a phone conversation and a field visit to discuss how and what we have accomplished at the Camps, worries were eased, and some trust was established.

After the New Year, the storm we needed was in the forecast. It was our time to burn. The plan was to start with a small burn area to show that pile burning can still be done safely in the same area of the HP/CC fire. On January 19, 2023, “Prescribed Burn Ahead” signs appeared near the Camps and flyers were posted all around the community. On that snowy morning, our veteran firefighters led several burners with a mix of experience and affiliations, including some first-time burners. Reporters from the Albuquerque Journal also came to this first prescribed burn operation since spring 2022. With smoke in the air for the first time since the wildfires from escaped prescribed burns in the summer, our collaboration braced for comments from the community, but none appeared. A few days later the article appeared on the front page, announcing that we were leading the way with reintroducing prescribed fire.

However, the actual work was not complete. The storm that allowed the first 8 acres of successful burning was followed by more with plenty of snow. 42 acres were left, and everything was lined up. On January 24th, as new and familiar faces gathered and geared-up, a phone call would change the pace for us.

With light winds and snow on the ground, we called Santa Fe County Dispatch to get final permission to burn, and to notify them in case of smoke reports from the community. We were surprised to get a “no-go” message from the SFCFD battalion chief because of windy conditions in most of the county. Since we knew that our winds on the other side of the ridge were safe, a friendly partnership with SFCFD Wildland Division was called upon. “I will talk with the battalion chief and will get back to you,” was the message. The chief trusted us and our operations enough to explain the situation to his chief and to get an exemption for our burn. The green light was given.

After the long hike up, and some training of many first-time burners, I lined out 16 burners on my first burn boss trainee assignment and we headed down the hill with lit drip torches and glowing smiles. 40 acres of piles were burned that first day, and the final 2 acres were burned the following day with some new snow on the unit. After more mop up and continued patrols the burn was called “out” February 6th, 2023.

In the shadow of the devastating HP/CC fire, the Glorieta Camps Pile Rx faced major obstacles along the way. Between bureaucratic revisions, misunderstandings from community members, and a looming “shut down,” we overcame those adversities with the help of our partners, building on and creating long lasting partnerships, and trust within the community. With the help of Glorieta Adventure Camps we proved that prescribed fire can be done, together, and hopefully helped set the stage for the return of more prescribed fire in the mountains of New Mexico.

A Guild mentorship in the Southwest

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Marisa Armijo

I’m from Ribera, a rural community in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. I am currently attending Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, where I hope to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Wildlife and Fisheries and an Associate of Arts in Agricultural Sciences this May. Growing up an outdoorswoman – hunting, fishing, and hiking – sparked my passion for nature and my interest in a career conserving and protecting it.

Working for the Forest Stewards Guild, first as a Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) crew member, then a FSYC crew leader, and now a mentee, has furthered my interest in conservation and forestry and taught me a wide range of knowledge and skills, from plant ecology to GIS, ecological monitoring to networking, fence repair to team building. The Forest Stewards Mentorship Program, which I joined last September, provides support and training for youth from northern New Mexico to further their careers in natural resource management, forestry, and conservation. It has provided me with a tremendous amount of guidance, motivation, and strategies for personal and professional growth.

One of the skills I have acquired through the Mentorship program is data entry and management as I worked with aspen stand data associated with the Zuni Mountains Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project. You may think data entry is not a big deal, but to me it is incredibly valuable as it is a key component of monitoring which allows us to detect changes in ecological communities over time. In the fall, I also completed an independent project entitled “Management of Exotic Ungulates in Southern New Mexico”, where I researched the behavior, biology, and ecology of the African Oryx, Persian Ibex, and Barbary Sheep, and made recommendations for their management.

The Mentorship Program has provided a broad view of topics such as forest ecology, biodiversity conservation, and climate change. In addition to technical aspects, it has given me the opportunity to shadow Guild staff, to learn about their experiences and see what their day-to-day is like. I’m more than grateful for having the opportunity to participate in this program and especially for the support of Cora and Mateo. I look forward to continuing to grow and advance my career in conservation.

Introducing Carlos Saiz on Guild staff

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Carlos Saiz

I am the Southwest Fire and Fuels Coordinator for the Forest Stewards Guild. My journey in this field started a decade ago with the City of Santa Fe Fire Department (SFFD). The SFFD mainly deals with structural fire suppression and Emergency Medical Services (EMS); however, in the early 2000’s, The Wildland Atalaya Hand Crew was formed, and that’s where I came in.

After graduating from New Mexico State University (NMSU), I moved back to my hometown in Santa Fe, NM and started on a seasonal hand crew for Atalaya Wildland Division. 6 months out of the year, our team would participate in both wildfire suppression and mitigation efforts. A handful of us even went through an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification process to be eligible to go out as a REM (Rapid Extraction Module) which is a medical/rescue team dedicated to wildfires and their resources. This would have been the first in the state. In the off-seasons, my duties consisted of sawyer work and thinning projects with private contractors. Although I was not with Atalaya full time at this point, my mitigation work continued.

After 5 years of seasonal work and hiking with a chainsaw draped over my shoulder, I was promoted to one of three squad bosses on the crew. The next 5 years were spent supervising firefighters during the wildfire seasons. When fire wasn’t in the air, my role was different. Along with my main duties to the crew, helped our WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) Specialist in running local mitigation programs for city residents. This role consisted of performing home hazard assessments, leading fire hazard mitigations projects, and public outreach. Although my time with the Atalaya Hand Crew came to an end, it led me to my passion, helping my community in fire resiliency. The Forest Stewards Guild has graciously given me the opportunity to continue to do so.

Northern Minnesota counties: A step ahead

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Submitted by Mark Jacobs

Counties among first to receive approval for conservation plan

“Think global; act local.” The phrase has been used in numerous environmental and business planning contexts. It conveys an urgency for us to deliberate the health of the entire planet, but to take the necessary actions in our own back yards that can make positive impacts and contribute to global health.

Bat surveys

Two northern Minnesota counties have taken that axiom to heart. In 2014, Aitkin and Carlton counties began conducting ‘bat surveys’ in their respective county managed forested lands. They did so in coordination with Dovetail Partners, Inc., a natural resources think-tank based out of Minneapolis, and with support from Dovetail Partners, Enbridge, Sappi North America, and UPM Blandin Paper.

The impetus for these surveys was the growing attention to an increasing threat of a disease that is decimating forest-dwelling bats. The disease, “white-nose syndrome (WNS),” is caused by a fungus that prospers in cave environments. The fungus is believed to cause bats to arouse from their winter hibernation. In doing so, they deplete their body fat, which often leads to their death. The fungus was first documented in Minnesota during winter 2011-2012. The bats face extinction due to the range-wide impacts of WNS.

Endangered status and management planning

In conversations with bat biologists in early 2014, the counties were aware that, due to the rapid decline from WNS, an endangered status involving one or more local bat species was very likely. An ‘endangered species’ status can affect forest management: forestry operations and woodland activities can be restricted in the habitat area of an endangered species.

If a species is listed as endangered, “take” is prohibited. “Take” as defined under the Endangered Species Act, means to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.” Incidental take is an unintentional, but not unexpected, taking. Forest management activities require an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) which is issued by US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The permit can be issued to private, non-federal entities, (like a county land department), undertaking otherwise lawful projects (like forest management), that might result in the ‘take’ of an endangered or threatened specie: in this case, the northern long-eared bat. Application for a permit is subject to certain requirements, including preparation of a habitat conservation plan by the person/agency applying for a take permit.

It sounds complicated; and it is. Land commissioners and foresters of Aitkin and Carlton counties embarked on those bat surveys early on, aware that the bat species might be facing the endangered status and that they would find it necessary to address the needs of the bat and the required permitting.

Planning a step ahead

During those early years of their county land surveys, bats were found everywhere that biologists from Western EcoSystems Technology (WEST) surveyed – populations were high. After 2017, WEST found that bat populations had rapidly declined due to the presence of white nose syndrome in areas where the bats hibernated.

In 2016, Aitkin and Carlton counties made their commitment to consider the bat in their forestry activities by developing a memorandum of understanding which was approved by each respective county board. The memorandum directed the counties to proceed with a “Habitat Conservation Plan” for three at-risk bat species (northern long-eared, little brown, and tri-colored).

The habitat conservation plan was released for public comment about a year ago and has since been finalized. The finalized and approved habitat conservation plan is designed to avoid or reduce unintentional take of the bat species. The plan also provides measures to alleviate impacts of forest management on the bats when unintentional take occurs. The plan describes how an activity might affect the endangered species and how those impacts will be minimized or mitigated.

Guild members and others comment on the importance of having this in place

Having an approved habitat conservation plan is particularly important to Aitkin and Carlton counties – two forested counties whose economies are dependent on the management and sustainability of their natural resources, particularly their forests.

The counties’ habitat conservation plan’s approval by the federal government could not have been more timely. On November 29, 2022 the USFWS published a final rule to reclassify the northern long-eared bat from ‘threatened’ to ‘endangered’ under the Endangered Species Act.

According to Aitkin County Land Commissioner Dennis Thompson, “Developing the Habitat Conservation Plan was a long process but extremely rewarding to see the final product. I could not be happier with the cooperation and collaboration we have with Carlton County. The collapse in bat populations due to this disease is hard to comprehend but I know resource managers can play a role in creating and maintaining quality habitat for bats.”

The two counties were also issued an “Incidental Take Permit (ITP).” Approval of the plan and the ITP authorizes Aitkin and Carlton counties to continue to manage county forestlands in a sustainable manner with modifications related to activities near maternity roosts and known places of hibernation over a 25-year project duration. Carlton County Land Commissioner Greg Bernu notes, “We want to avoid the possibility of taking any bats.”

“The ITP allows us to continue our forestry operations with modifications. With these modifications in place we can harvest our forests, making the odds of taking a bat very small.”

Now-retired Aitkin County Land Commissioner Mark Jacobs, said that he and Carlton County Land Commissioner Greg Bernu felt “it was in the best interests of our local forests and local communities to develop our own HCP rather than sign on to a potential plan developed by others.”

According to Jacobs, “Based on bat surveys in our area prior to WNS, forest bats were doing very well in our managed forests. The intent of the HCP was not to drastically alter our previously approved forest plan, but to modify it to accommodate the bat species. For example, we adjusted the harvest activities over time and space to match critical periods in the bat’s life cycle and established specific practices to provide and protect roost trees.”

“The plan protects existing bats in the short term and in the long-term maintains/enhances habitat to facilitate their population recovery to pre-WNS levels.”

Kathryn Fernholz, President of Dovetail Partners, noted that the choice of the counties to take action has allowed them to stay a step ahead. “Forest managers face lots of challenges and changing conditions. We have the choice to take a “wait and see” attitude or to move forward and take action with the best available information and the knowledge of our professions. By conducting the bat surveys to gather additional information and then deciding to move forward with the HCP development, the counties have been able to reduce the risk of negative impacts to bats as well as to their operations and all of the environmental, social and economic benefits that sustainable forestry provide in Minnesota.”

As Commissioner Greg Bernu points out, “Taking care of our Minnesota forests means taking care of the other natural resources, like the bats that are dependent on them. One cannot predict how far-reaching the effects of our local stewardship go.”

The Guild introduces Maggie Mansfield

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I began working with the Guild in July as Northeast Region Manager and support Guild programs including Women Owning Woodlands and Forestry for Maine Birds. The child of a maple syrup producer, I was steeped in the complexities of New England forests at an early age. Studies in forestry, ecology, and botany broadened my understanding of the surrounding landscape and prepared me for the challenges of forest management in the region. I hold a Master of Science in Forest Resources from University of Maine, Orono, where I explored the effects of ecological forestry on understory plants, and a Bachelor of Arts in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic. I am a licensed forester in the state of Maine.

Before joining the Guild, I worked as a consulting forester in central Maine, guiding landowners through all stages of land stewardship, from identifying goals to implementing harvests. I bring skills and experiences gained as a consultant to my work with the Guild, including effective communication with landowners, loggers, officials, and others.

I researched ecological forestry for my master’s thesis, implemented it as a consultant, and am thrilled to promote it through my work with the Guild. I incorporate the conservation, cultural, natural resource, and intrinsic values of our forests into my work, and am privileged to work for an organization that shares my priorities. I am particularly passionate about forest ecology, silviculture, and landowner education and outreach. Outside of work, I wander in the woods, shout at deer eating my fruit trees, read novels, and play with butter, flour, and yeast.

“Maggie Mansfield is a perfect fit for advancing the work of the Forest Stewards Guild in the Northeast,” says deputy director Amanda Mahaffey. “Maggie brings valuable field experience, a passion for ecological silviculture, and a boundlessly positive attitude. I’m excited for Guild members to meet her at upcoming events.”

Written by Maggie Mansfield

The 2022 Wildland Urban Fire Summit

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Gabe Kohler, photo credits to Aelysea Webb from New Mexico Counties.

The NM Wildland Urban Fire Summit (WUFS) is New Mexico’s premier event for wildfire preparedness and planning. The event provides a venue for sharing best practices and building professional relationships between practitioners and academics. Participants include community leaders, academics, fire service professionals, and federal, state, tribal, and local government representatives. The event is made possible through funding from the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and administrative support from New Mexico Counties .

Over the last 9 years, the Guild has played an important role in developing the agenda, approaching potential speakers, and coordinating event logistics. With the 2022 WUFS located in Santa Fe, NM, the Guild played an especially central role last year.

The 2-day event was held in Santa Fe, NM from November 16th-18th. The theme for the summit was “Community Recovery, Cultivating Resilience.” The Guild supported the development of an agenda that was informative and engaging while being sensitive to the grief and devastation of the 2022 fire season. In the summer of 2022, the Calf Canyon/ Hermit’s Peak wildfire burned over 341,471 acres, devastating communities and becoming the largest wildfire on record for the State of New Mexico. Many participants were personally affected by the Calf Canyon/ Hermit’s Peak wildfire or had friends or family that were. Through professional facilitation, deliberate agenda setting, and outdoor sessions the event was successful in providing a space for learning and discussion while being sensitive to the recent loss and devastation for many New Mexicans.
To see a full agenda from the 2-day conference, click here .

Sessions range from full presentations to mini-talks to workshops and field tours. The dynamic and interactive format of the of the Summit supports an important dialogue about forest and fire management in the Wildland Urban Interface areas of New Mexico.

This annual event serves as an important opportunity for informal networking among wildfire practitioners and this year was no exception. Over 120 participants came from across the state to attend the Summit. Student participants, in particular, noted their appreciation of the Summit as a place to make professional connections and share emerging research topics. Many students attended from New Mexico Highlands University, which serves an important role for job training and forestry education for many rural, Northern New Mexican students. As always, it was refreshing and inspiring to see the next generation of natural resource leaders show enthusiasm and creative problem solving in their work.

Planning for WUFS 2023 is already underway and the Guild will continue to play a key role in the planning committee. Until the next summit, Guild staff are hard at work building partnerships and developing creative solutions that will undoubtably make the agenda in 2023.

Planting Future Stewards

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Cora Stewart

This fall, Forest Stewards Youth Corp (FSYC) Fire and Fuels Program had a successful season, completing important natural resource projects alongside work partners. The program consists of three crews, each with 4-5 individuals, including a crew lead. Crews are located across Northern and Central New Mexico, with the Espanola Ranger District on the Santa Fe National Forest, Mountainair Ranger District on the Cibola National Forest, and the Pueblo of Jemez Natural Resource Department. Each crew worked alongside their partners on forest management projects, such as fuels reduction, fire line construction, fence building, and recreation trail building. The goal of this program is for members to gain relevant experience, training, and certifications so they may move up into natural resource positions. Members participate in a two-week training where they receive courses required to be type 2 wildland fire fighter and feller certified. Upon successful completion of an arduous pack test, which includes walking 3 miles in under 45 minutes with a 45-pound pack on, members receive their red card, which they can use to apply to other agencies.

Another goal of the fall Forest Stewards Youth Corps program is to provide capacity for agencies to perform prescribed burns during the off-season. However, crews faced a unique challenge this year, as prescribed burns were federally ordered to be put on pause for most of the fall. This was due to the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fire in northern New Mexico, which was started by an escaped prescribed burn. Although members expected to gain experience in prescribed burns and wildland fire fighting, they instead gained an understanding of the dynamic nature of land management, as well as experience in rehabilitation and reforestation.

Outside of the work crews did with their districts and departments, the 2022 FSYC fire and fuels crews participated in a research project on reforestation through the University of New Mexico. This project looked at a strategic planting model, using topography and surrounding species, to see if it is possible to increase the success rate of tree planting from 25% to 60% in the southwest. Members spent three weeks planting over 12,000 baby ponderosa pine trees. The plantings were across three different burn scars with varying levels of burn severity, time since the fire, and elevation. The sites were in Jemez, Mora, and Cimmaron, New Mexico. Hillsides were selected based off slope, and members were instructed to plant by Gamble Oak, as its roots bring water closer to the surface, making it easier for the planted ponderosa pines to survive. This project is still ongoing, as the University of New Mexico team monitors tree planting success and analyzes the results.

As the threat of wildfire and climate change increase across the nation, it is important for young people to be part of projects like these. Not only did the Guild’s youth corps crews plant trees in the southwest, but the Guild’s Oregon State University student chapter also participated in a tree planting project in the Pacific Northwest. By involving students and young adults in natural resource management, it is the hope to inspire a future generation of holistic, open minded, and aware forest stewards.

Mass Timber Growth and Trends

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Latest Report from Dovetail Partners Addresses Mass Timber Growth and Trends

Written by Maria Golden and Kathryn (Katie) FernhoIz of Dovetail Partners. Katie is a long-time member and past board member of the Guild. Dovetail and the Guild partner on many efforts and members benefit from the research and information Dovetail shares nationwide. All photos are credit to Dovetail Partners.

In January 2016, Dovetail released a report addressing modern tall wood buildings . The report recognized that wood use in high-rise structures in the U.S. would likely increase in the coming years. Fast forward to 2022, Dovetail has released an updated report that summarizes the policy and code changes, names challenges mass timber might face in the future, and discusses developments related to mass timber constructions. One of the key takeaways in the new report is that mass timber construction in the U.S. and Canada has grown by 19% since 2019.

As of 2022, 1,400 mass timber projects have been constructed in the U.S. The tallest building is 25-stories. Mass timber manufacturing capacity has also grown. In the U.S. and Canada, mass timber manufacturing has increased from 4 to 11 companies since 2016, with 3 more planned.

While mass timber projects seemed like the way to go in 2016, there were policies and codes in place at that time that frequently limited building heights to only 5 or 6 stories (depending on the occupancy group). This changed in 2019 when the International Code Council (ICC) approved a set of proposals to allow tall wood buildings up to 18-

stories as part of the 2021 International Building Code (IBC). Additional changes to be incorporated in the 2024 IBC include allowance for exposure of mass timber ceilings and integral beams. The 2021 IBC permitted these areas to have 20% exposure while the 2024 IBC will permit 100% exposure. For the IBC code changes to work, local jurisdictions still have to adopt the changes and the tall wood code provisions. As of 2022, only 8 U.S. states have adopted code changes for tall mass timber provisions.

A common concern with mass timber is ensuring growing demand doesn’t exceed the supply of sustainable forest products. Peer-reviewed research published in early-2022 concluded that even in the most aggressive mass timber demand scenario, forest growth in the U.S. continues to exceed harvest by 18%. [ 1 ] Another reason mass timber is a sustainable choice, is the potential for up to a 68% reduction in emissions impact from a whole life cycle analysis perspective of a mass timber building with a 60 year life span. [ 2 ] That’s the equivalent of avoiding the emissions of up to 20,000 barrels of oil.

The opportunity of tall wood and mass timber buildings is beginning to be realized and the adoption rate of mass timber has been enhanced by the results of research, product standardization, code provisions, expanded production capacities, and the leadership of many public and private sector organizations. The bottom line is that continued innovation is needed for hybrid buildings, workforce development, and improved circulation and sustainability of materials. Guild members can contribute to the sustainable growth of mass timber innovations by supporting the adoption of code changes in their states and communities, continuing to practice sustainable forestry for sustainable forest products, and connecting with architects, engineers, and other built-environment professionals that share our interests in connecting people and planet in reciprocal relationships.

[1] Comnick, Jeff, Luke Rogers, and Kent Wheiler. 2022. “Increasing Mass Timber Consumption in the U.S. and Sustainable Timber Supply” Sustainability 14, no. 1: 381. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010381

[2] Perkins&Will, 2021. https://masstimberhousing.com/ whole-life-carbon

Women’s Forest Congress – at long last

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Amanda Mahaffey, complied by Colleen Robinson

I was in a room with 500 women foresters. What?! When did that happen, ever? It happened at the inaugural Women’s Forest Congress this October in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About the Congress:

The Congress was designed to inspire and empower women in the forest sector. This event was the culmination of years of work by women leaders in the field who felt that now was the time for a space dedicated to elevating the voices of women in the forestry profession. Congress sessions highlighted the important role that women landowners play in forest stewardship. No surprise, several Guild members were involved.

The Women’s Forest Congress challenges organizations in the forest and forest products sector to:

FOSTER workforce opportunities for all women through mentorship programs, professional development, scholarships, with a particular focus on reaching out to those who need help or are asking for assistance in any part of their journey.

BROADEN recruiting practices to include wider networks, and build a pipeline of talent by connecting with and showcasing forests and the forest and forest products sector to youth and students, creating job shadowing and internship opportunities, etc.

BUILD workplace systems that support mental health coverage, and include training and programs promoting healthy lifestyles, such as family leave, flexible work schedules, generous vacation plans, social opportunities, and holistic wellness programs.

PROMOTE a variety of working environments, encourage flexibility, and ensure all work environments are fully accessible.

ENABLE employees to prioritize mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health and model healthy behaviors for others.

CREATE a safe, inviting, and welcoming workspace for all resulting in greater wellness, increased retention, higher productivity, improved creativity, and heart-centered decision-making.

ASSESS compensation for women and promote paths to pay equity at all levels, including discrepancies in intersectional identities, communities, and demographics.

INTENTIONALLY IDENTIFY and support more women and those from underrepresented groups to achieve leadership positions.

INCREASE the use of storytelling in conferences, trainings, and workshops.

APPLY models and frameworks to generate and realize solutions to the greatest forest challenges that are built on women’s strengths, such as inclusive, collaborative, and multi-scale holistic thinking.

The participants of the 2022 Women’s Forest Congress, our supporters, and partners commit ourselves to advance these actions through our organizations, networks, partnerships, and spheres of influence.

Amanda’s story:

The Women’s Forest Congress was unlike any conference I have ever been to. The focus was not on forestry knowledge, though this group could offer a wealth of that, but rather on building connections and community so that together, we might address the world’s greatest forest challenges. Why a Women’s Forest Congress? Data and experience show that women are sadly underrepresented in the field and in leadership positions within the sector. The women who attended came from industry, academia, non-profit, government, and everything in between. We represented 38 states, 3 Canadian provinces, and 8 other countries. We came as leaders, mid-career professionals, young foresters, and students. We came to share our passion for igniting a new role for women in forestry.

The Congress program flowed through an arc of experience woven of the five themes of the Congress: Leadership for Equity and Inclusion; Workforce Opportunities for Increasing Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement; Women as Catalysts for Change; Addressing Today’s Greatest Forest Challenges; and Supporting Each Other. Inspirational speakers from inside and outside the forestry profession taught us to commit ourselves to embodying the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. To never give up in our determination to blaze a path for girls who will come after us. To have each other’s backs and affirm our truths. To support each other and lift each other up. To tell herstory in our sector’s history in the past, present, and future. To paddle upstream together and breathe in the world around us. To laugh, dance, and celebrate who we are.

Breakout sessions were more like collaborative workshops than one-way presentations. Rooms were packed to overflowing with women asking good questions, providing input in world cafés, and building connections through small group discussions. Special spaces for creativity, wellness, and nursing mothers set this meeting apart from traditional forestry conferences. In the midst of all this activity, delegates worked diligently to articulate declarations that would come out of the Congress and establish a shared vision for the future of women in forestry. We heard powerful individual stories and universal support for one another. This special gathering of women was made even more impactful because of our shared experiences through the pandemic, which had a pronounced effect on women.

My mind is blown by the experience of the 2022 Women’s Forest Congress. This landmark gathering invited us to bring our whole selves, on equal footing with our colleagues, and with plenty to accomplish together. As I return home, I know inside that I am changed by this experience. I am ready to inspire, train, and empower the women around me to be the change we want to see, to work together to steward our forests for the future.

I am a woman forester. I am a catalyst for change. With others, I will rise, and we will shape the future.

Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit Highlights – 2022

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson and Maura Olivos and photos by the NIFS partnering organizations.

Together the Forest Stewards Guild, Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG), Oregon State University – College of Forestry (OSU), University of Washington – School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (UW), Intertribal Timber Council (ITC), and private forestry representatives kicked off the 2nd Annual and 1st in-person Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit in late September at UW’s Pack Forest in Eatonville, Washington. From the start, this event expressed the culmination of years of effort, needs, ideas, sharing, and desired connections. As one attendee affectionately voiced, “this is not your typical forestry conference.”

The Summit began Friday evening September 30th with a “sense of place” session led by Colleen Robinson from the Guild, also a Certified Mindful Outdoor Guide. A handful of attendees gathered under trees with a willingness to slow down, be humble, and tune into their senses. This created a space for centeredness and connection with the wisdom, gifts, and presence of the flora and fauna (including humans) residents and descendants of Pack Forest. This framing exercise, and reminder of our place in a broader community of life, welcomed Summit participants with an intention to foster acceptance, be open to new experiences, and attentive to nature’s model of compassion and creativity.

The event then continued to introduce Pack Forest to attendees with a short walk in the woods. Led by Greg Ettl Director of the Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest, the walk entailed a peek into Pack Forest’s history and how it has supported forestry research over the decades. Since the 1920’s professors and students have applied various harvest and processing methods, explored the financial sustainability of different forest products, and worked to open the doors for new future efforts such as the production of big leaf maple syrup. Greg also led a 3-hour forest tour the following day offering a far more in-depth view on the silviculture practices Pack Forest has hosted over the years. An additional short walk in the woods was led by Kim Littke, UW research alum looking at fertilization trials, sharing yet another example of the innovation fostered by Pack Forest.

Rising high on the list of significant moments for Summit participants were the powerful, honest, and enlightening keynotes given by Don Motanic of the Intertribal Timber Council (retired) and Steve Rigdon of Yakama Forest Products. They provided indigenous perspectives to forestry within tribal lands and even more essential, how the action of tending to forests and the cultural foods from within is at the heart of their culture, management, and relationship with the land. With humility and care they also shared the desire of indigenous people to go deeper in what it means to be a part of their own culture and the desire to learn more. Steve and Don’s words set the tone and path of the Summit for all in attendance.

Building off the words from Steve and Don, the goal of the Summit was to bring people together from around the region, with diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise to foster a co-learning community and expand on the role innovation has in ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry. Saturday looked to fulfill this goal with thought provoking and engaging discussions on climate smart forestry, restoration considerations in response to Emerald ash borer, growing older trees, data tools for public engagement, and the future of forestry professionals. Participants included representatives from academia, government agencies, non-profit, tribal, and private forestry. Standing out was the strong presence and engagement by our future of forestry with students from Oregon, Washington, and Michigan thanks to scholarship and grant funds from OSU and UW.

Each session explored challenging considerations, and discussions unfolded on what innovation is in the first place. Out of this, more questions arose from participants around traditional ecological knowledge, collaborative planning, shifting western traditional management practices, and changing the culture of forestry. Diving deeper, participants asked why is there a disproportionate percentage of people of color within the natural resource field? How do we open doors to new opportunities that are better aligned with the natural landscape? And how do we go about adjusting our relationship to forests and each other? Overall, participants walked away with a different sense and broader definition for “innovation.”

Sunday continued with further mind-bending discussions on forest values and supporting forest health with birds in mind. The session on the human dimensions of forestry values was led by Cristina Eisenberg, OSU Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Director of Tribal Initiatives. This discussion helped round out the weekend summit, helping those in attendance think beyond the monetary value of our practices and consider how forest interactions like reciprocity fit in with western forestry and science. This session also facilitated a personal, rich, and deep look into each participant’s expressions of their connections, skills, and contributions.

The connections that were made and the discussions that took place were just the tip of the iceberg for this community. One participant shared, “Our time together has reenergized my passion for the work I do and set a precedent for me to start tomorrow to broaden the way I think, collaborate, and implement natural resource practices.” In alignment the partners of the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit plan to continue to support this person, all those that were able to attend the Summit, and all those that have supported the development of this community to realize innovation in forestry for the Pacific Northwest region.

Thank you to all those who attended, supported and guided the 2022 Summit! For a full description of the 2022 Summit sessions and post-event notes and resources, visit www.nnrg.org/nifs2022 .

November student voice – Zoe Kaminsky, Wisconsin

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zoe Kaminsky

Hello, Forest Stewards Guild ~ my name is Zoe Kaminsky. I received my B.S. in forest management from Colorado State University and have three years of combined experience in utility vegetation management and cross-boundary stakeholder collaboration. Now, I am pursuing my M.S. in natural resources at University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (UWSP) and am the Wisconsin Forestry Center’s (WFC) first graduate research assistant. I am excited to be part of a dynamic team that provides partner-driven workforce development solutions to the industry.

During my tenure with UWSP and the WFC, I will be conducting research on professional development, training, and continuing education needs of practicing foresters in Wisconsin. Through this research, I will also explore concepts such as professional development value and barriers to participating in training opportunities. To accomplish this, I will be distributing an industry-wide needs assessment survey next year. If you are interested in providing input on this research, please contact me at zkaminsk@uwsp.edu.

Shortly after moving to Wisconsin this summer, I attended my first Forest Stewards Guild gathering, Stewardship in Perpetuity in Wisconsin’s Driftless Region. The event provided an intentional space to connect with others in the industry, as well as learn about the role of land trusts in holistic land management practices. I look forward to being an active member of the Forest Stewards Guild by attending future events and getting involved in the online, LGBTQIA+ community of practice gatherings.

Editor’s note: this student voice article is an example of how Guild student members can introduce themselves to the Guild community and share information about interests, questions, or opportunities. The Guild is grateful to Zoe for their early and enthusiastic membership engagement through Guild events and exploring the potential for a UWSP Guild Chapter.

Hope Knoll reflects on her internship experience

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I am a retired Air Force veteran from Massachusetts, with 20 years of experience in intelligence analysis. I gained strong work ethics, leadership, and critical thinking skills to transition into a new career. For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about nature, so I earned a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science with concentration in fish and wildlife management. 

During my studies, I developed further interest in species conservation, wildlife biology and ecology. I took advantage of the military’s Skillbridge program for transitioning service members and completed a 5-month internship with the Turtle Survival Alliance as a turtle (chelonian) keeper. I learned species conservation and land management need to work together in order to be successful, therefore I decided to take another internship focused on the land aspect which brought me to the Forest Steward’s Guild program. 

At the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, I gained insight on the intricacies of pine forest management and running a refuge. Specifically, focusing on a prescription to establish ideal bobwhite quail habitat. It is a rigorous job that requires great self-discipline because having to reduce the forest stands to as low as 40 basal area requires one to select beautiful trees to cut. Though it pained me to do this, it is all a part of species survival. Learning what a healthy forest looks like and the work behind achieving that was my key takeaway from this experience. 

Having this experience has pointed me further in the direction of working in conservation. I’d love to take my future into researching wildlife management practices and finding ways to ensure species survival so future generations can enjoy even richer wildlife diversity than we have today. For now, I’ll continue to volunteer at CSNWR and keep on learning and appreciating the ways of wildlife, their habitats, and public activities in the places where they are. Thank you for everything!

Editor’s note: The Forest Stewards Guild has partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the last several years to provide students with hands-on experiences to learn how forestry and wildlife management work together on public lands. These 12-week positions are hired by the Guild and supervised and based at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in McBee, South Carolina.  
 
Cassidy McCarty and Hope Knoll were selected from a strong pool of applicants for these positions and both interns did a wonderful job. We are featuring articles written by each of them. Check back next month for Hopes article. We wish them both all the best as they complete their education and enter the work force.  
 
We will be offering this 12-week summer internship again in 2023. Be on the lookout for a posting next spring at  http://foreststewardsguild.org . Pease also check this page for other opportunities with the Guild and our terrific partners. If you would like to help recruit well-deserving and potentially interested students, or if you would like to apply yourself and have questions, please contact Shawn Swartz at shawn@forestguild.org or 828-216-6470. 

Written by Lindsay Hope Knoll

UA’s Forest Stewards Guild Student Chapter Explores Aquatic Diversity and BMPs at Bankhead National Forest

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Samantha Luitjens

The University of Alabama’s Student Chapter attended a field tour to learn about aquatic diversity and Best Management Practices with an overnight camping trip to build community within the Guild. Students attended presentations given by natural resources management professionals. Andy Scott, District Ranger on the Bankhead National Forest, gave the first presentation and discussed the history of Bankhead National Forest, as well as the forest restoration models they use in management. Andy’s comprehensive presentation provided information on the National Forest System and wilderness designation significance. Cal Johnson, Certified Fisheries Biologist at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, followed with a presentation on aquatic biodiversity, noting that Alabama has more fish species than any other state in the US! Cal discussed the importance of habitat diversity and highlighted the importance of following BMPs. The last presentation was provided by Brad Nail, Regional Forester with the Alabama Forestry Association, and he provided examples of BMPs and discussed cost share programs available to landowners.

With lush green trees, flowing rivers, and warm sunshine, the afternoon continued with a field tour. Cal displayed his work with fish monitoring using electrofishing equipment. Students assisted Cal with a fish inventory of a small stream. The tour continued as Andy illustrated the importance of prescribed fire as a tool for forest management with Blake Addison, Bankhead Timber Management Assistant. Andy offered much insight into how the US Forest Service operates, giving students a better understanding of how the government plays a role in forest management. The field tour ended with Brad showing a culvert that was not functioning properly and impaired the movement of aquatic organisms. Brad explained how culverts are a necessary part of societal infrastructure as well as ecosystem function and are a key component to natural resource management.

The evening was filled with a delicious baked potato bar, chili, and plenty of s’mores. 15 AL Student Chapter participants stayed in tents and hammocks at a group campsite on the Bankhead National Forest. Clear skies offered perfect stargazing, and friendly conversation about the day’s learning was shared over a toasty campfire. Students found it hard to say goodbye to the beautiful forest, and planning for future educational camping opportunities began on the trip back to campus.

We express sincere thanks to Dakota Wagner, Southeast Regional Coordinator, for organizing such a memorable, educational, and fun experience.

Maine TREX 2022

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Amanda Mahaffey

September is traditionally a promising time for fall burning in southern Maine. The fall of 2022 brought more rain than one would want for prescribed fire, but not enough to dampen the mood for over 30 participants and training leaders who gathered for the long-awaited ME-TREX. A TREX, or prescribed fire training exchange, is a training event conceived of by The Nature Conservancy to advance the pace and scale of prescribed fire across the landscape. The 2022 ME-TREX was the first of its kind in the Northeast. Like other TREXs, the ME-TREX brought its own flavor to the TREX “recipe” of training, treatment, and outreach. The two-week event was intended to accomplish ecological burning and reduce hazardous fuels. Through this work, participants would grow their fireline qualifications and experience. The story of the impact of this work on the landscape would be amplified through purposeful outreach within and beyond the fire community.

The planning, which had begun prior to the coronavirus pandemic, was led by a core team of Maine Prescribed Fire Council leaders representing The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Maine Chapter, The Maine Forest Service, the Maine Army National Guard, and the Forest Stewards Guild. As September approached, this team was augmented into the ME-TREX Incident Management Team (IMT) with help from ESRI, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Oregon Military Department. In addition to these agencies, the TREX was also made possible by key support from the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact (NFFPC), the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange (NAFSE), and TNC’s Fire Learning Network. The Maine Teen Camp in Porter was our base of operations, and a welcome home-away-from-home during the training event.

Travelers came from Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Vermont, and Nova Scotia. Our participants represented a variety of state and federal agencies, TNC chapters, stewardship organizations, and universities. While it rained outside, the participants and IMT went through check-in and orientation to Maine’s fire landscape and the variety of wildland fire engines and UTVs. Icebreaker activities helped build group cohesion. The fireplace, which was the only source of heat in the camp, became the centerpoint of social activities over the next two weeks.

Morning briefings featured a variety of voices on weather, safety, incident objectives, operations, and logistics. While the fuels dried outdoors, we learned about fire-related topics in Maine including pine barrens ecology, fire weather tools by the National Weather Service, Indigenous blueberry burning, Maine’s fire history, gender dynamics in fire, and the work of TNC in Maine. We also practiced Firewise assessments and mock-media interviews, toured the Maine Forest Service’s Mobile Command Vehicle, and ran SimTable exercises. Later in the program, our group was joined by legendary figures in fire science and management from the Northeast, including Dave Crary (retired from Cape Cod National Seashore), Tim Simmons (retired from MassWildlife), and Dr. Bill Patterson (retired from UMass-Amherst), all of whom were integral to building a culture of prescribed fire in this landscape over the past several decades. Their voices joined us in fireside chats, field conversations, and formal presentations that greatly enhanced our participants’ understanding of the role of prescribed fire in the Northeast.

As the days rolled into one another, the ME-TREX group bonded. Every single person was committed to the culture of shared learning. Everyone was there to be trained, but also to practice mentorship of others. This pillar of TREXs is critical to ensuring a well-trained, supported future of firefighters and fire lighters. The IMT worked hard for hours every night planning the command structure for the next day’s operations to maximize the opportunities for learning and building fireline qualifications. The universally supportive nature of our TREX group made for an outstanding training environment. We worked hard, laughed hard, and felt fulfilled at the end of each long day. This welcoming culture made a huge impression on our single-day participants, 4-6 of whom would join us daily for a taste of the TREX experience and go home inspired to become more involved in prescribed fire. We were glad to be able to be inclusive of these fire partners to help build interest in prescribed fire among their home volunteer fire departments, agencies, and universities.

As we catch our collective breath after an intense two weeks, we at the Maine Prescribed Fire Council are already dreaming about the future. We want to have more TREXs in the Northeast, hopefully rotating the host location around the region.

This is a summary of the full story , available on the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange website.

Cassidy McCarty describes her internship experience

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

This summer I had the opportunity to spend my time in the beautiful Sandhills region of South Carolina at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge (CSNWR). The Sandhills are a unique longleaf pine and wiregrass ecosystem, home to many endemic and endangered species, including the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and the Pine Barrens treefrog. This was a forest community that I had never seen before, so I was shocked by the sheer number of pine trees and sand that wasn’t beside the ocean. I also didn’t know anything about the dynamics of the Sandhills before getting here, like its dependence on prescribed fire or its history of intense agricultural use.

I am currently a third-year senior studying Environmental Science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, with minors in Forest Management and Wildlife Science. Like many other college freshmen, I entered college not knowing what I wanted to do. After some twists and turns and a change of major I came to environmental science, a broad degree that allowed me to choose a focal area and narrow in on something that interested me. With some more deliberation, I finally landed on Forestry and fell in love with it after taking a few classes, including GIS. These classes introduced me to some of the equipment and concepts I ended up using this summer but I was nowhere near accomplished in this field. I came to CSNWR eager to apply what I learned in the classroom and dive deeper into the world of conservation forestry, especially in the public sector.

I want to fulfill my goal of having a career outdoors that I love. I am incredibly grateful for my time at Carolina Sandhills and for the Forest Stewards Guild for giving me this opportunity! If you would like to contact me with any questions or comments, my email is csmccart@ncsu.edu !

Editor’s note: The Forest Stewards Guild has partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the last several years to provide students with hands-on experiences to learn how forestry and wildlife management work together on public lands. These 12-week positions are hired by the Guild and supervised and based at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in McBee, South Carolina.

Cassidy McCarty and Hope Knoll were selected from a strong pool of applicants for these positions and both interns did a wonderful job. We are featuring articles written by each of them. Check back next month for Hope’s article. We wish them both all the best as they complete their education and enter the work force.

We will be offering this 12-week summer internship again in 2023. Be on the lookout for a posting next spring at http://foreststewardsguild.org /jobs . Pease also check this page for other opportunities with the Guild and our terrific partners. If you would like to help recruit well-deserving and potentially interested students, or if you would like to apply yourself and have questions, please contact Shawn Swartz at shawn@forestguild.org or 828-216-6470.

Written by Cassidy McCarty

While I was at CSNWR, I worked under the Forester and with two other interns; Hope (also from the Guild) and Christopher. Our days were mostly filled with marking and cruising timber as a part of
our bobwhite quail focal area prescription for the South Carolina Bobwhite Initiative. We were marking approximately 200 acres down to a 40-50 basal area, which promotes grass growth, the preferred cover for quail. We also marked 250 acres of timber for a regular sale at our sister refuge, Pee Dee NWR, in Wadesboro, North Carolina. Our other major projects were managed by the wildlife biologist. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker trees are identified with a white band painted at breast height around the cavity trees. Our job was to repaint the trees that were due for fresh paint, which led us to almost every corner of the refuge because the clusters are scattered throughout the 47,850 acres that make up CSNWR. We also banded 100 doves for the SCDNR, which involved setting traps at dawn, then aging, sexing, and recording each dove. When we weren’t doing any of that, we did miscellaneous tasks for refuge management and visitor experience, including lots of lawn care (I learned how to use a zero-turn lawn mower – one of the highlights of my summer), trail maintenance, boundary painting, compound water level control, and even refolding brochures on rainy days. Most importantly, I spent every day learning from my coworkers, who all had different backgrounds and taught me something unique (everything from reptile ID to using ratchet straps) and applying topics I had learned in my classes in the field.

As for my future, I would love to do something similar to what I did at Carolina Sandhills. I’m currently enrolled in a Wildlife Habitat Management course and am loving every bit of it! I would love to work for some governmental organization doing something that improves habitat and the environment through forestry practices. I’m also in the process of getting my NWCG Firefighter Type 2 certification and would love to work as a Forestry Tech for fire after graduating.

Summer 2022 Forest Stewards Youth Corp Season Recap

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Cora Stewart

The Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) program has provided outdoor opportunities and trainings for New Mexico youth, ages 15-25, for over 15 years. This year, the summer program supported five crews across Central New Mexico, each crew consisting of four to five members. Crews gained experience and education in a variety of natural resource management fields such as recreation, fire, archeology, range, forestry, and botany. With these experiences, it is the goal of the FSYC program to build the next generation of forest stewards in rural New Mexico.

In 2022, the Guild partnered with the Santa Fe National Forest, Cibola National Forest, and the Pueblo of Jemez Natural Resource Department to have crews in the following Ranger Districts and Pueblo; Mountainair, Mt. Taylor, Las Vegas/Pecos, Coyote, and Pueblo of Jemez. Each crew worked closely with their prospective department to learn more about the natural and cultural history of New Mexico, and how to care for it.

The FSYC program prioritizes training and education to build long-term capacity and efficacy. To start off this season, crew members participated in a 3-day training, where they learned about the history of the Guild, self-care, how to change a tire, fire ecology, leave no trace principles, and monitoring principles. Throughout the season, crews continued to learn through on the job training in resume building, tree and plant identification, archeological site identification, soil and water monitoring, pest identification, and fire management. This year, the Guild held its first mid-season meet up for crews. This meet up was a time to celebrate getting half-way through the season and to learn how to be an active by-stander. Crews learned about tools for interrupting uncomfortable situations and acting. This is important to instill early on in people’s careers and lives, to create a work environment that is safe for all.

One of the biggest challenges was the many forest closures due to the Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak fire. These closures prevented crews from getting to planned project areas and slowed down the summer. Despite this, crews worked hard and were able to complete over 13 miles of trail work, 17 miles of fencing, remove noxious weeds (Russian and bull thistle) from 60 acres, monitor over 20 plots for range compliance, and monitor 15 plots for water quality and sediment quality. The Las Vegas/Pecos based FSYC crew had the unique opportunity to assist in a Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) on recently burned allotments. The crews and Guild staff celebrated these achievements and wrapped up the season with a graduation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a mix of education and fun; crews played minute-to-win-it games, learned about the many natural resource management career paths, and reflected on lessons learned during the season.

Almost as soon as the summer program wrapped up, the fall program began. In 2022, the FSYC fall program hosted three crews located in the Jemez Pueblo Natural Resource Department, the Espanola Ranger District, and the Mountainair Ranger District. The three crews met together for an orientation, and then jumped right into a 2-week training. This program provides wildland firefighting and chainsaw training to crew members, alongside certifications. Once members complete an arduous pack test, carrying 45 pounds for 3 miles in under 45 minutes, they are given a red card that can be used in Federal agencies. Crews learned about fire behavior, how to use drip torches, how to properly use a chain saw, and most importantly, how to stay safe while on a fire site. Fall crews are now back at their sites, doing on– the–ground projects, such as identifying tree planting sites for restoration, creating brush piles, and posting fire signage.

Bird-Friendly Forestry in West Virginia

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

The Southeast Region Office recently embarked on a new project in West Virginia focused on bird-friendly forestry. The primary objective of this project is to increase awareness, capacity, and acreage for bird-friendly forestry in Central Appalachia through strategic outreach and learning opportunities and the creation of demonstration sites. What is “bird-friendly” forestry, you ask? Bird-friendly forestry is managing forestland from the perspective of a bird and aims to improve wildlife habitat as well as overall forest health while improving timber stand conditions.

As we continue to work with TFG to lay out bird-friendly silvicultural prescriptions and set up the sites for harvest, other partners in the project are working diligently to capture the process. Wildlands Network in collaboration with Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture will be creating an ArcGIS StoryMap that tells the story of our target species that will be used in landowner and practitioner outreach and training.

This project has been made possible by funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as part of their Central Appalachian Habitat Stewardship Program .

Written by Dakota Wagner

This project’s demonstration sites will showcase management strategies to support habitat for three different bird species: the Wood Thrush, the Cerulean Warbler, and the Golden-winged Warbler. Both regeneration harvest practices and crop tree management practices will be used at appropriate sites to promote early-, mid-, and late-successional habitat characteristics. These sites will be located on land owned by The Forestland Group (TFG)– a timber management organization that happens to be the largest landholder in West Virginia. When we reached out to their Chief Forester and Guild member Alex Finkral about partnering on this project, we were met with enthusiasm. It is always exciting to partner with Guild members on project-based work! We are grateful for their willingness to partner with the Guild on this project as the demonstration sites will be pivotal in reaching our goals.

In July, Forest Stewards Guild staff joined TFG in rural West Virginia to scout potential forest tracts for demonstration site implementation. The day started overcast and cool – unusual for Appalachia in the height of summer. It was a perfect day to be in the woods. Touring the potential demonstration sites, we were looking at the forest from “a birds-eye view” and asking: what silviculture could be implemented here to support the needs of our target bird species while also meeting TFG’s timber management goals? We saw stands with oak, maple, and hickory and heard many different birds throughout the day. We even spotted several Scarlet Tanagers, a species that shares similar habitat needs as the Cerulean Warbler. When the day concluded we identified two primary tracts as potential demonstration sites and we celebrated with tacos and rooftop beers at a nearby local taco shop.

Logger and forest manager surveys – beginning a dialogue of better understanding

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson, as a compilation of published works. Photos by Dovetail Partners.

Noted in the introduction to a recent report on logger engagement and retention, forest management prescriptions based on ecological principles tend to be complex. Market-based approaches to promote ecological forestry, such as third-party certification programs, have helped expand the practice and adoption of a more holistic approach to forestry.

Logging businesses are critical to forestry and the forest products industry for implementing forest management prescriptions and delivering timber and fiber for manufacturing. Without loggers, foresters and landowners cannot accomplish their land management objectives. Logging businesses change over time and are adapted to local conditions. The challenges faced by logging businesses can be mitigated by preparing timber sales that consider local logging system capabilities and constraints, and through knowledge transfer and innovation among logging businesses. These challenges and the solutions are a topic of concern in the forestry community, as the success of ecological forestry is dependent on a good plan executed on the ground by a quality logging operation.

Dovetail Partners, a Minnesota-based non-profit organization, partnered with the Guild to conduct a survey of the professional Guild members located throughout the United States regarding the importance of quality logging operations and their understanding of the challenges facing the logging industry. The survey was specifically designed to capture the perspectives of foresters who typically practice ecologically based forestry, thus the Guild provided a natural partner for the survey. This report highlights the results of the survey, follow-up interviews that were conducted, and related literature.

The harvest is executed in a manner that minimizes the negative environmental externalities that can occur during a harvest.
The loggers and landowners have communicated and developed a plan for what the harvest will look like.
A QLO maximizes the utility of the logger and landowner given the constraints they face (environmental, capital, third party and legal restrictions).

This recent survey’s results, illustrating ecological forestry professionals’ understanding of logging industry successes and challenges amid the need for ecologically minded forest management and forest operations is just part of that larger dialogue. Previous surveys of the logging community have been conducted over time by others and show alignment with many of the concerns raised by foresters in our survey. For example,

“Finding skilled workers was identified as the greatest barrier to success by the respondents, underscoring the need for more training opportunities.”Vaughan et al. 2022 Forest Contracting Businesses in the US Southwest: Current Profile and Workforce Training Needs. J. For. 120, 186–197.
In the Lake States, survey data from 2003 and 2010 were analyzed in Rickenbach et al 2015. Wisconsin’s Logging Sector: Status and Future Direction. UWEX Cooperative Extension G4073, Madison, WI. Some implications mentioned include that “The logging sector has lost business but continues to be able to supply wood to mills because businesses have gotten bigger. This trend is likely to continue, but barriers exist. Further analysis and policy changes will likely be needed to ensure adequate logging capacity in the future.” “…Opportunities to gain technical skills are available but can be difficult to access or pay for. Moreover, the capital required to enter the business provides a barrier to entry and a challenge to existing businesses looking to expand.”
New England states found similar sentiments according to Egan, A., 2011. Characteristics of and Challenges Faced by Logging Business Owners in Southern New England. North. J. Appl. For. 28, 180–185. “A mailed survey, informed by focus groups, key informant interviews, and previous research, was used to develop baseline information about the region’s logging business owners and to explore challenges to the region’s logging businesses.” “Logging business owners cited several challenges to maintaining or expanding their businesses, including day-to-day operating costs, equipment and insurance costs, the price of stumpage, a shrinking forestland base, and harvest regulations. In addition, there was a general perception of the public’s lack of respect for loggers and logging, as well as a perceived disconnect between forest products that the public consumes and the work that loggers perform. Loggers in the region appeared to have less familial attachment to logging, more non-logging employment opportunity, and a diminished sense of occupational prestige compared with other logging business owners in the northeast.”
The Southeast survey analysis echos the concerns in Spong et al. 2010. Characteristics of West Virginia loggers during economically difficult times . USDA Forest Service, GTR- NRS-P-78 “Unfortunately, increasing logging rates and certification programs have not been enough to save a large number of employees in the logging workforce from losing their jobs. Twenty-five percent of loggers responded that they laid off more than half of their employees.” “Another difficulty loggers face is the requirement to make workers’ compensation payments. West Virginia privatized its workers’ compensation insurance system in 2006, creating an opportunity for new programs and potential savings to the logging business. However, this potential savings has not yet arrived for most loggers…”

The Guild andDovetail’sreport along with other similar research highlight the challenges facing loggers, and hence foresters’ ability to implement ecologically sound management.”

A key focus of the survey and report was quality logging operations (QLOs). In the report, we defined quality logging operations (QLOs) as timber harvests that meet the following three criteria:

The expanded attention to characteristics of quality logging operations can create barriers between harvesters and forest managers. For QLOs to persist for decades to come, a dialogue between timber harvesters and forest managers is necessary. This report’s larger purpose is to support a dialogue between these groups to bolster recruitment of QLOs and limit attrition of those capable of performing quality logging operations.

Summer Gathering of the Women Foresters Collaborative

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Maddie Eberly and Maggie Mansfield

The Women Foresters Collaborative gathered earlier this summer for a two-day event at the Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in Jefferson, Maine, traditional lands of the Wabanaki community. After speaking with a discouraged young woman who was a forestry student at a professional event, Lynn Levine, the first female consulting forester in the northeast, called on a group of women to create the Women Foresters Collaborative. Formed in 2019, the Women Foresters Collaborative is a space where women and non-binary folks in forestry and related fields can come together and connect. As Lynn pointed out, Suzanne Simard wrote the strength in a forest of trees can be found in the network beneath the soil surface in her book, “Finding the Mother Tree.” The Women Foresters Collaborative aims to provide such a network between our forestry mentors and the freshly minted professionals and students to ensure that they are well rooted and supported as they grow in their careers or hand off life-long projects.

Patty Cormier, the second female Director of the Maine Forest Service, read an article from the 1950’s titled “Foresters, Fair.” The article ostensibly celebrated the 28 women who had entered the forestry field since 1915, including 16 who were employed at the time. The article found creative ways to describe these women, including “girls,” “pistillate foresters,” “rouge-and-lipstick foresters,” “no mere spectator,” “powder-puff forester,” and “special student.” With each new term, cringes and laughter were evoked. Cries of “Look how far we have come!” mingled with serious discussion of needs that continue today. Signified by the fact that we were gathered, there are still some ceilings to shatter and needs for growth for women in forestry.

Bonded by our shared experiences as women in forestry, we must also acknowledge the strength that comes from intersectionality, listening to the voices, needs, and accomplishments of other communities. We were privileged to be joined by tish carr, ED of Wabanaki Youth in Science (WaYS) and a national leader in women’s chainsaw trainings, and Keyana Pardilla, a marine biologist and Tribal member of the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe. Keyana and tish discussed their work with WaYS, breaking down barriers for Native American youth in the education system. We live in a heavily westernized culture, where the knowledge and experiences of Native Youth are often ignored. The WaYS program helps Wabanaki youth connect what they are learning in school to the knowledge that is held in their community through mentorship from Tribal Cultural Knowledge Sharers and western scientists.

Generous amounts of time between the structured events allowed us to learn about one another, discuss new ideas, replenish with snacks, and do what the founders envisioned when starting the Women Foresters Collaborative – connect.

Women Forester’s Collaborative Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/299501844902089/

Wabanaki Youth in Science (WaYS):
https://www.wabanakiyouthinscience.org/

Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC):
https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/

A previous version of this article stated that Patty Cormier was the first female director of the Maine Forest Service, a title that actually belongs to Susan Bell. This article was corrected and updated from its original writing on November 3, 2022.

On July 1st, 2022, we gathered at HVNC. Participants traveled to their cabins and tent sites, spread throughout the many acres of HVNC, to deposit their gear then gathered up under the towering ceiling of the Barn, an outdoor learning structure. Nearly 40 of us sat in a circle of metal chairs, benches, and camp chairs, each with our own story of accomplishments and challenges, hopes, and dreams. We shared who we were, where we came from, what we do, and honored the people who have supported us. The same student who Lynn had spoken to, now working as a forester, was at the event. We found that several of us shared the same mentors or connections to places in New England. We shared laughs and learned names, adding new connections to our ever-growing forest network.

As nighttime fell, the pond came alive with frog calls and an owl repeatedly hooted out into the darkness. From under the Barn came the light sounds of acoustic music and song, of laughter and quiet conversations. While some delved into their music, others gathered round to solve riddles and share stories of their first and more recent encounters with moose and bears. Slowly the group grew smaller as women left to find their distant tents and cabins until the fire died out and the string of lights were finally shut off.

We set off down a forested trail as Barrie Brusila, a consulting forester who has managed the land at HVNC for several decades, shared some of her work in the woods while tish and Keyana shared their insight into non-western ways of seeing and being a part of the forest. In between stops where we came together for conversation on silviculture, trail construction, and world views, we learned from and about each other. The power of meeting on a forest owned and managed by women was not lost on the group. Throughout it all, we watched out for each other, picking ticks off people we’d met the day before.

Announcing exciting staff advancements at the Guild

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

What makes the Guild special is the people: members, supporters, and staff across the country working to put the forest first. With the promotion of Sam Berry and Mike Lynch we have an opportunity to celebrate two people who make the Guild an effective champion for stewardship.

Supporting youth and the ecological use of fire

Sam Berry leads with a quiet assurance that comes from his experience managing two different forces of nature, fire, and youth. Sam has earned a burn boss type III certification and has taken on the responsibility of managing the Southwest Office’s fire management program including, leading pile burns for the Guild’s Southwest office and managing the AHAL Burn team to bring burners from diverse backgrounds out to support prescribed fire across northern New Mexico. Sam is passionate about the importance of bringing fire, a keystone ecological process in the Southwest, back to our forests to improve the resilience of communities and ecosystems. This can mean making tough decisions such as postponing a planned bun last April after months of planning because conditions were not right. Sam brings the same focus to the Forest Stewards Youth Corps. It isn’t easy to recruit, hire, train, and support youth in their introduction to natural resource management, and often their first job. Starting this week, Sam brings these two efforts together by leading the fall Forest Stewards Youth Corps through fire fighting and chainsaw training. Though older, the fire and fuels youth Corps are largely new to fire and need clear, calm guidance to become confident in their new roles as firefighters. Because of Sam’s leadership, we are glad to announce his promotion to Associate Director in the Guild’s Southwest office.

From Sam: As the southwest office continues to expand, I’m excited continue my own growth and to be able to support other staff as we work together to further the Guild’s mission here in New Mexico. More and more I see the important role of a non-profit like the Guild to be able to step in and accomplish the work we want to see and form strong partnerships to expand that work.

Advancing ecological forestry in the Lake States

Mike Lynch is a man of many talents. He has served many roles for the Forest Stewards Guild in the Lake States (in addition to managing his family’s farm!). One of the first projects Mike worked on for the Guild was a research project that identified the Economic and Ecological Effects of Forest Practices and Harvesting Constraints in Wisconsin. From there, he has continued to support the Guild’s research and management publications, while focusing more broadly on increasing the Guild’s role as an advocate for forest stewardship that balances the multifaceted ecological, economic, and social needs of the Lake State’s Forest resources. Mike has been instrumental in planning, management, and outreach on the forestland the Guild owns on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He uses a pragmatic approach to building partnerships and collaboration amongst diverse stakeholder groups and has used this skill to bring the Foresters for the Birds program to the Lakes States and foster several projects that have increased the use of prescribed fire as a stewardship tool in the region. Throughout Mike’s work, he has put Guild members front and center, organizing numerous Guild Gatherings over the years that explore regionally important issues in forest ecology and management. Mike’s promotion to Director recognizes his consistent effort to build a stronger Lake States program through the practice and promotion of ecological forestry.

From Mike: I am excited to continue building the Guild’s programs and profile regionally and nationally. The importance of our forest resources is only increasing, and I am encouraged by the enthusiasm I see from our members, partners, and the broader society for the continued stewardship of these resources.

A Guild Student Chapter Visits the Clackamas Ranger District

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Luke Vanbuskirk

The Pacific Northwest (PNW) Student Chapter at Oregon State University went camping in the Mt. Hood National Forest (NF) and worked with the Clackamas Ranger District this May. Surrounded by Pacific silver fir, mountain hemlock and sword fern, the students were setup at Lost Creek Campground Near Zigzag, Oregon and experienced firsthand all that the PNW spring had to offer. Soggy sleeping bags, socks, and all! 13 students packed into a welcoming, warm, and dry van to Ripplebrook Guard Station on Saturday to meet up with Forest Service staff, Phill Monsanto – Timber Program Manager, Cara Lewis – Special Forest Products Coordinator, and Lin Kyan – Forest Botanist. Thankfully the sun came out and the students spent the day drying and learning about invasive plant species removal, post-2020-fire restoration efforts including a new pollinator garden, and special forest products (aka non-timber products).

The morning was spent in hands-on learning. Stewardship work with Lin Kyan included a little planting and pulling. The restoration species of the day was Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis), planted within a small, burned area of Ripplebrook to build up the forest edge understory and support the nearby pollinator garden. A stone’s throw away, students were working hard with some weed wrenches and good old hand-pulling to remove Scotch broom. Lunch provided some time to refuel and quality time to get to know the Forest Service representatives and their unique professional journeys to their current positions and focus.

Cara Lewis then rounded out the day sharing all about special forest products , how they are managed, permitted for the public, and how product availability and access are marketed. Products included the more commonly known resources like Christmas trees, mushrooms, and firewood, as well as the less commonly known products like florist cuttings, transplants, medicinals, and fencing and posts. The most surprising component to this market, is that it is still expanding. The latest potential forest product is biochar.

The Forest Service crew shared the inspirational work and dedication that their District holds to help restore the forest post wildfire. A daunting task after having experienced the loss of work completed, and then to start all over with the knowledge that they may not see the forest fully recover before the end of their service. It was thoughts like this our Forest Service representatives shared to provide a fulfilling experience for all the members of the student chapter connecting with them and a unique patch of land. The resiliency of the forest and the people that work with this land despite the impact of the 2020 wildfires over 112,000 acres of N.F. (and over 1,000,000 acres across NW Oregon) is amazing. One could see the passion that fuels the work, giving back to the understory in an early seral landscape. The benefits of giving back to the understory will help rejuvenate the ability for more opportunities to arise in special products management and the Student Chapter looks forward to continuing to help the Forest Service in this recovery effort.

WICCI Report: Warmer winters and extreme rain are stressing Wisconsin’s forest resources

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Dea Larsen Converse, WICCI Communications Director

A focus on climate impacts to Wisconsin’s forests in the most recent assessment from the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) shows that warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are impacting Wisconsin’s urban and rural forests. Wisconsin’s average daily temperature has become three degrees Fahrenheit warmer and precipitation has increased 17 percent, about five inches, since 1950. The last two decades have been the warmest on record and last decade was the wettest. The warming climate is stressing Wisconsin’s 17 million acres of forests. It is creating conditions favorable to new pests and diseases. Iconic species like paper birch are vanishing. Logging operations are struggling with storm damaged infrastructure and less frozen ground. Interviews linked to this article detail some of these impacts.

WICCI’s Forestry Working Group contributed to the 2021 WICCI Assessment Report and is working to share information across the forestry community about climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. The WICCI Forestry Working Group recommends actions including:

Keep forests as forests
Renew forest cover in rural areas
Encourage tree planting in urban areas
Pursue climate-focused forest management
Support Wisconsin wood product utilization
Update forest plans at the federal, state, county, tribal, and private lands levels to address climate risks with site-specific strategies.
Support a holistic deer management program that better recognizes the impacts of deer on forest productivity and results in deer population goals that recognize deer-forest impacts.
Recognize and plan for the operational limitations that affect logging and other forestry operations due to shorter periods of frozen ground and longer periods of extreme wet weather.
Invest in adaptive logging practices and logging equipment to address or minimize limitations and impacts resulting from shorter winters and more wet conditions.
Increase emphasis on forest restoration and assisted migration of forest species in light of climate change impacts through applied field studies and by increased nursery capacity.

The group offers their assessment, expands on these solutions, and offers resources to help forest managers adapt to the changing climate on the Forestry Working Group webpage . Example resources include:

Private Landowner Climate Scorecard and Actions (pdf)

Climate Change Field Guide for Northern Wisconsin Forests: Site-Level Considerations and Adaptation

Climate Change Field Guide for Southern Wisconsin Forests: Site-Level Considerations and Adaptation

Adaptation Workbook

“Wisconsin forests cover nearly half of Wisconsin and provide a unique opportunity to address climate change by reducing concentrations of greenhouse gases while simultaneously providing essential social, environmental, and economic benefits,” according to Stephen Handler, Guild member and WICCI Forestry Working Group Chair.

WICCI is a nationally recognized collaboration of scientists and stakeholders working together to help foster solutions to climate change in Wisconsin.

Growth in the Guild’s Southwest Region

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Several authors contributed

We’re excited to welcome Cody, Cora, Mateo and Andrew to the Southwest office. Our growing staff were drawn to work for the Guild by our mission. Each of these individuals add necessary expertise and vigor to our flourishing programs in the Southwest office.

With the onset of two large Collaborative Forestry Landscape Restoration Program projects in the Southwest in 2022, new additions to the Guild expand our capacity to implement these cross-boundary, landscape scale restoration projects aimed at reducing community fire risk and improving ecological conditions.

Furthermore, the Guild’s mission continues to resonate with young adults who are interested in developing careers in forestry and skills as fire practitioners. New Guild staff expand our capacity to deliver the Forest Stewards Youth Corps Program in the summer and the fall to develop the next generation of forest stewards and create a career pathway for rural youth in forestry and fire.The Guild is pleased to introduce our newest staff members, who are already hitting the ground running!

Cody Dems, Southwest Project Coordinator

Cody joined the Guild to work at the confluence of people and forests. With a background in prescribed fire implementation and research, community outreach, and ecological monitoring, Cody supports multiple programs throughout the Southwest. Ever learning, Cody is excited to combine landscape-scale planning with on-the-ground projects to restore, protect, and promote resilient forest communities. He has a B.S. in Resource Conservation from The University of Montana and an M.S. in Forest Resources from Penn State.

Cora is passionate about helping young adults develop professionally within the fields of forestry and conservation. She first discovered this interest as a canoe guide for teens in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, where she enjoyed developing relationships and seeing youth grow in their confidence and understanding of the world around them. Cora continued to pursue her passion by joining the Peace Corps as an agroforestry volunteer in Senegal, Africa, where she worked with middle school aged girls to promote gender equality and environmental leadership. Upon the end of her service, Cora moved to New Mexico, where she fell in love with the mountain and desert landscape and discovered the Forest Stewards Guild. She now works extensively with the Forest Stewards Youth Corps, visiting and supporting crews across Central New Mexico. When she’s not outside with crews or in the office, Cora enjoys going for bike rides, kayaking, hiking, painting, and eating burritos.

Mateo brings diverse international experience to the Guild, having worked for a decade and a half in biodiversity conservation, agroecology and intercultural education throughout South and Central America, southern Africa and the U.S. Mateo’s interests include traditional ecological knowledge, ecological restoration, protected areas governance and intersections between environmental and social justice. Mateo is ecstatic to join the Guild’s efforts to collaboratively manage forest landscapes in northern New Mexico for resilience, biodiversity conservation and the benefit of local communities. Mateo holds a MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation from the University of Leeds (UK) and a BA from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Mateo is an avid outdoorsman, linguist, and songwriter-singer.

Andrew’s work in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado focuses on reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire, restoring natural fire regimes, increasing forest diversity and old growth characteristics, improving fish and wildlife habitat and connectivity, conserving critical habitat to help recover threatened and endangered species, improving water quality and watershed function, mitigating climate change impacts, enhancing economic sustainability, improving quality of life and, building on partnerships and collaboration. He looks forward to seeing how the project evolves and has a positive effect on the Rio Chama landscape over the coming years.

Originally from Maryland, Andrew grew up exploring forests along the East Coast. He attributes his love of forests to his parents, who took him to local, state, and national parks as often as possible. He visited the Southwest frequently with his family, fell in love with the region, and feels lucky to call New Mexico home now.

Andrew holds a M.P.A. degree with concentrations in Environmental Policy, Natural Resource Management, Sustainability, and Sustainable Development from Indiana University, as well as B.S. degrees in Biology from Salisbury University and Environmental Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

When not working for the Guild, Andrew enjoys traveling, running, hiking, camping, cooking and learning more about the history and culture of his adopted state.

Cora Stewart, Southwest Field Coordinator

Mateo Pomilia, Southwest Program Manager

Andrew Jones, Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) Manager

A large-scale partnership in our Lake States

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

The Forest Stewards Guild joined the Camp Ripley Sentinel Landscape Practices and Restoration Team a few years ago to support their new and ongoing stewardship actions. This group of partners has pursued innovative, grassroots projects that protect agricultural, forestry, and recreational land around the Camp Ripley installation which serves as the main National Guard Training Center for units from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, and Illinois. The Sentinel Landscape covers over 805,000 acres along the Mississippi River and encourages land stewardship and conservation practices that improve water quality, preserve critical habitat corridors, bolster local agricultural economies, and enable Camp Ripley to conduct year-round training activities with limited restrictions.

National Guard, Morrison County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Forest Stewards Guild to, among other things, enhance knowledge about, and use of, prescribed fire locally within the Sentinel Landscape and more broadly across the state. The Forest Stewards Guild is taking the lead on three of the deliverables:

1) Working with retired US Forest Service Burn Boss Timo Rova to develop burn plans for twelve landowners within the Camp Ripley Sentinel Landscape.

2) Coordinating a pair of Learn and Burn events for landowners withing the Sentinel Landscape.

3) D eveloping and delivering a pair of Job Approval Authority (JAA) trainings for Natural Resources Conservation Service and Soil and Water District employees from throughout the state.

We had the first Learn and Burn on April 22nd(Earth Day) and the first JAA training over the three-day period from May 24thto 26th. The first six burn plans are in development, and we are working with local partners to identify landowners for the remaining burn plans.

The May 24-26 JAA training was very popular. We limited the class size to 35 students and that quickly filled with a long waiting list. Amanda Mahaffey and Timo Rova joined Michael Lynch to lead the content delivery along with support from Camp Ripley staff Josh Pennington, Jake Kitzmann, Lew Noska, and Tim Notch and guest presenters Lane Johnson (University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry Center) and Jack McGowan-Stinski (Lake States Fire Science Consortium). This three-day training was held in the classroom and field, and included an introduction to prescribed fire, fire ecology, structure and development of burn plans, sand table simulations, strategy exercises, handling of common tools, and a half day field tour of seven burn units on Camp Ripley including one that had been burned just two days prior.

Stay tuned for more updates from this exciting Lake States project or reach out to Michael Lynch at ( mike@forestguild.org ) with questions or new project ideas.

Written by Michael Lynch

A needs assessment identified prescribed fire as a stewardship tool that had the potential to greatly increase the health and resilience of the landscape and decrease the risk of fires on or around the military installation. An agreement was developed between the Minnesota Office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Minnesota

The April 22nd Learn and Burn went well with a great group of landowners and subject matter experts. Conditions looked good for a burn when we were scouting sites ahead of the event, but it unfortunately rained on the scheduled date. We still had a productive meeting despite not having a fire demonstration for the landowners. After a morning classroom session, we drove the group out to look at burn units in the light rain. The landowners seemed engaged in the topic and asked some great questions.

Forest Health Initiative Program

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

On a warm summer day last June, I found myself walking through the intermittent shade of a recently thinned, high-elevation spruce-fir forest. I was on Quinlan Ranch, a working property tucked up against the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. Just a stone’s throw from the Colorado border, we were there to see the effects of two different forest health treatments, both intended to reduce tree mortality exacerbated by the presence of spruce budworm and fir engraver, and both supported by the financial assistance of the Forest Health Initiative (FHI) program .

Insects and diseases don’t stop at fence lines or property markers as they spread across the landscape, so it is important that forest resilience treatments don’t either. Still, cooperation, collaboration, and shared management objectives across land ownership boundaries can be challenging ideals to achieve, even though a common vision of landscape stewardship is critical to most conservation efforts. This is especially true in the fire-adapted and drought-susceptible high desert of New Mexico, where a mix of state, federal, and private parcels or ranches such as Quinlan checkerboard the landscape. The monetary cost of forest health treatments can also be a barrier to implementing a cohesive land management strategy. To bridge this ideological and fiscal gap, New Mexico State Forestry (EMNRD-FD) administers FHI, a national cost-share program aimed at improving tree and forest health across boundaries through on-the-ground treatments.

Most participants in the program are private landowners, while municipalities, land grants, other subdivisions of the state, and tribes can also apply for reimbursement of up to 70% of the cost of thinning and slash treatment on their property. Funded by the USDA Forest Service’s Western Bark Beetle Initiative, the program’s approved treatments aim to prevent future forest losses to bark beetle infestations and other insects, pathogens, and diseases. The program requires development of a long-term forest health management plan to ensure treatments are ecologically-sound and results are sustained beyond the span of the 1-year FHI cost-share agreement. The guidelines of the program and allowable treatments also ensure that these management plans are aligned with management goals on adjacent public lands.

Interested in learning more about the program and its history? Visit the Forest Stewards Guild’s FHI webpage or the NM EMNRD Forest Health page .

Written by Rachel Bean

As a fiscal agent and collegial partner, the Forest Stewards Guild supports NM State Forestry in their administration of the FHI program. The Guild assists with review of program applications, checks inspections of project work for completion, and reimburses program participants once the terms of their application have been fulfilled. We also support site visits to completed projects, such as on Quinlan Ranch, to share lessons learned, engage in adaptive management, and strengthen partnerships. The Guild’s involvement in the program brings an additional layer of accountability to the financial and environmental outcomes of specific projects. We also serve to amplify this message of opportunity for landowners and to encourage cross-boundary collaboration. One piece of the puzzle is cooperative land management, and the FHI program educates landowners and empowers them to be responsible stewards of our shared future.

New Jersey Fire Camp

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

In the New Jersey Pine Barrens, “putting the forest first” means prescribed fire. Supporting fire science production and application in the North Atlantic requires both serving the community that already exists and investing in future scientists, managers, and practitioners. The North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange recently organized a week-long Fire Camp with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service and USDA Forest Service. This action-packed week brought together professors and students from Penn State, Arcadia University, Rutgers University, Stockton University, Rowan University, the University of Maine, and the Yale Forestry School. These academics were joined by fire wardens, fire tower observers, science technicians, wildlife biologists, and others from the organizing agencies and New Jersey Audubon. The group spent the week visiting field sites, implementing prescribed fire, and developing professional connections. Students and organizers alike deepened their understanding of fire science in ways that will influence their careers in both the short- and the long-term. As one student said: “This week has given my career a whole new direction. I didn’t realize that I could do [my focus area] and fire; I thought I had to do one or the other. After meeting [fire science professionals], I won’t say it’s a 180 but it’s opened up a whole new world.”

Tuesday, May 17 was a full field trip day. We visited a carbon flux tower and learned about fire-caused carbon release in a morning visit to Silas Little Experimental Forest. (Prescribed fires generally release less carbon, though wildfires in treated areas may not release as much carbon as wildfires in untreated areas. Just as in forestry, it depends!) The students then had a lesson in fuel consumption while implementing a small prescribed burn in a plantation. Our visit to Silas Little also included an introduction to tick population census methods and a discussion with the authors of a new research paper that proposes a paradigm shift in tick management by focusing on fire-adapted ecosystem restoration.

After a picnic lunch, we continued our field tour at the Warren Grove bombing range. While fighter jets circled overhead, we stood at a vista of much of the Range property to get acquainted with the Range’s burn plan and treatment blocks. We also discussed the role of fire in maintaining populations of broom crowberry (a plant that resembles neither broom, nor crow, nor berry, and is native only to frequently burned landscapes). Down the road from the bombing range, we visited a recent prescribed fire adjacent to the gun range. The burn boss from that operation described the weather conditions and tactics used to reduce hazardous fuels in this challenging burn unit. Then we crossed the street and heard perspectives on the challenges of burning to achieve two conflicting objectives: rare plant maintenance and firefighter safety.

Wednesday, May 18 was the stuff of legends. Our Fire Camp group met up with NJ Forest Fire Service personnel plus two rock star researchers from the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station for a day of prescribed burning. While the researchers set up instruments with a handful of students, the rest of the group received a personalized historical tour of Quoexin Cranberry Farm, fondly nicknamed “Small Timbers” for the fire operations and research that take place there. Landowner and third-generation fire warden and cranberry farmer Tom Gerber uses prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to protect his cranberry bogs. Tom graciously guided our group to light up a total of three burn units. Our students were assigned to holding and firing squads and gained valuable experience with the tools of the trade (which in New Jersey’s cranberry bogs includes buckets). Everyone at the farm that day learned something, including a seasoned professor who saw fire effects playing out in real time and a prescribed burn veteran who supervised a squad of new recruits. We finished the day smiling over ice pops at our after-action review and then laughing over several servings of s’mores around the campfire that night.

Our final day, Friday, May 20, was a hot one, so we wound down our week with some low-intensity activities. The morning began at the camp with an introduction to when Brown’s transects, photo plots, and LiDAR may best be pulled out of a fuels measurement toolbasket. Adjacent to the camp, we learned about working with neighbors to protect homes in the wildland-urban interface. We visited historical Atsion, NJ and got a personal historical tour of land management and wildfire response for that heavily-burned piece of ground.

The NAFSE leadership team is still processing all the benefits that came out of this week. We hope that we can replicate this event and expand access to more fire students and emerging professionals. Ultimately, it is these experiences that move the needle towards safe and resilient fire-adapted landscapes and communities.

Amanda Mahaffey, deputy director at the Forest Stewards Guild, is a member of the NAFSE leadership team.

Written by Amanda Mahaffey

Monday, May 16 began with the FFT2-qualifier field day. Our students joined dozens of other newly-trained wildland firefighters to learn about PPE, hand tools, engines, and drip torches. Our group spent the afternoon examining fire history at our base at the YMCA Camp of the Pines, which actively uses NRCS funding to support New Jersey Forest Fire Service prescribed fire operations on camp property. We were introduced to the superpowers of pitch pine, which include serotiny and an unbelievable ability to resprout after fire. We looked at trees’ fire scars, examined ecological effects of recent prescribed fire treatments, and introduced the driving question behind prescribed fire: “What’s the objective?”

Our final stop was a snake den site managed in partnership with NJ DEP and NJ Audubon. The northern pine snake makes its home in human-made, burrow-like mounds in an area maintained by prescribed fire and mowing. A student spotted a pine snake crossing the road during our visit, so the group was afforded an up-close look at this threatened species in its habitat.

Thursday, May 19, our group compared effects from a wildfire and from a prescribed burn designed to mimic catastrophic wildfire. We heard accounts of the May 1, 2022 wildfire from the first fire tower observer to spot its smoke, and from drivers of the first engines on the scene. We also got to explore how other treatments on the property influence forest ecology, including controlling invasive plants. In the afternoon, we visited a prescribed burn with objectives of mimicking fire effects from a wildfire. The fire managers responsible for planning, setting, and controlling the wildfire-like prescribed burn then walked us through the risks and rewards of setting such a fire. Later, we climbed a firetower for a unique view of the NJ Pine Barrens. We learned about firetower operations and how agencies such as the NJ Forest Fire Service and USDA Forest Service fit into the Incident Command System on large-scale fires outside of the state. Students directly connected their controlled burn activities the day before to after-burn effects in the forests they visited on Thursday. Their observations and questions about forests burned by wildfire v. prescribed fire were more insightful and mature as a result. Thursday’s formal program ended with ice cream and a lively group reflection session.

Our group had one final meal together, then said our thanks and goodbyes with plans to stay connected and bring home lessons learned.

Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit updates

Thu, 19 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

The Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit (NIFS) is a venue for regional learning, exchange and ongoing cooperation to advance and celebrate innovation in all aspects of forestry and forest-related work in the Pacific Northwest region. Here we recognize the underappreciated history of experimentation and innovation in the region’s forest sector and aim to chart a course for improving sustainable forest management through partnerships and problem solving.

2022 marks the Summit’s second year. Last spring, we kicked off this event and a Mighty Networks online community with a pandemic-inspired virtual Summit. This year, our spring NIFS Virtual Series just wrapped up in April, building momentum for a late September in-person Summit at the University of Washington’s Pack Forest.

The 2022 NIFS Virtual Series events included a mix of panel discussions, lectures by presenters, and breakout room discussions. Descriptions and recordings of the events can be found on the NIFS website .

April’s weekly sessions covered:

1)  Living with Change: Discussing Future Challenges and Opportunities

2) The Co-evolving Story and Stewardship of Northwest Forests

3) Diversifying Forest Revenue and Values: What’s the Same and What’s Changing?

4) Working Together: New Partnerships in Forest Ownership and Conservation

Some things learned during the Virtual Series include information about community forest mapping, the needs of private nonindustrial forest owners, and the high value newcomers to the region place on forests. These participants appreciated the diversity of perspectives during the series.

We asked Virtual Series participants what topics they’d most like to see part of the Pack Forest event later this year. Topping the list are Forestry Culture and Communities and Tribal Forestry Practices, along with non-traditional forest products and uses. We hear loud and clear that people also want opportunities to network and socialize, which we look forward to providing during our upcoming in-person sessions.

We also heard a desire to cover specific alternative forestry practices that are environmentally based. There was additional interest in sessions dedicated to professional development and sector development for loggers, planters, and other field workers.

Thank you to those who provided feedback and ideas. We are very busy planning for late September and appreciate your engagement.

NIFS is all about responsible forestry and community. Neither can be accomplished in isolation. So,mark your calendars for NIFS in-person at Pack Forest! Registration will open early this summer. Event details so far are available on the NIFS website .

Written by Colleen Robinson

We’ve heard from a handful of participants in the 2022 Virtual Series evaluations so far. They told us that they attended with hopes of learning something new and getting new ideas while meeting like-minded peers. They also wanted to engage in thoughtful discussion. Overall, the series met their expectations!

A farewell and a celebration the Guild’s Southwest office

Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

As in forests, change is a constant here at the Guild. It is bittersweet to announce that long-time staff member Matt Piccarello has taken a new position with The Nature Conservancy of New Mexico. Matt brought a passion for southwestern forests, human communities, and youth training and education during his eight years with the Guild. During that time Matt grew and built programs that had meaningful beneficial impacts. It has been a pleasure and honor to work alongside him all these years. In his own words:

“I feel so fortunate to have worked at the Guild as long as I did. I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to the entire team for all I have learned from you and for your support during this transition. The Guild’s great team is ready to pick up where I left off on projects I was working on. The Guild is a special organization, made so by the people that work there and its mission. I’ll have nothing but fond memories when I look back. I look forward to working closely with the Guild in my new role as Forest and Watershed Health Manager with The Nature Conservancy.”

With change comes new opportunities and I am pleased to announce the well-deserved promotion of Esmé Cadiente to Southwest Director. Starting with the Guild in 2016, Esmé has brought tremendous work ethic, leadership, forest restoration expertise, and relationship building skills to the organization. Additionally, Esmé brings a vision for how the Guild can more effectively achieve our mission in the Southwest. As Southwest Director, Esmé is already making strategic decisions while advancing forested landscapes to be more resilient. In her own words:

Written by Eytan, Matt, and Esmé.

“Working alongside Matt for the last six years has been such a treat. I have learned a lot from him about community forestry, and our leadership styles balance and complement each other well. He will be missed in the Guild office, but we are fortunate that we will still be working alongside Matt as a partner with TNC. I am pleased to accept the position of Southwest Director. When I came to the Guild six years ago, I was also coming home to the landscape where I grew up. A landscape that nurtures and feeds my soul—since being a young child running barefoot through the Rio Grande, to now taking my own daughter on walks to smell the vanilla sweetness of the ponderosa pines. The work the Guild does is extremely important in maintaining these forests for the next generation – so they may have the same fond memories of experiences spent in the landscapes of the Southwest. My vision for the Guild’s Southwest office is to build alignment with all the collaborative forestry and shared stewardship projects in this landscape. I want to promote a multifaceted effort that integrates the implementation and monitoring systems from each project so they complement one another and eventually reach landscape resilience goals. Providing youth development opportunities, especially in rural forested communities, and nurturing the next generation of forest stewards is a huge piece of this work and is woven into every project we conduct here in the Southwest. I look forward to the years to come, especially now that forest restoration is becoming a priority for more than just those in the profession.”

Season 2 of the Science & Practice Series Concludes

Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Since 2020, the University of Maine’s Forest Climate Change Initiative (FCCI) has collaborated with the Forest Stewards Guild to address Climate Change impacts in Maine’s forests. They began with a Science and Practice forum in Orono in February 2020, where forest scientists and managers gathered to  identify the highest priority concerns  around climate change in Maine’s forests.  

In the Fall of 2020, the FCCI and Guild kicked off a  monthly webinar series  to catalyze scientist-manager discussions about climate change research, grow Maine’s forest climate adaptation community of practice, and be a resource for the Maine Climate Council about Maine’s forests and climate change. The first season of the Forest Climate Change Science & Practice series featured nine lunch-hour webinars that spanned topics from carbon budgets to forest biodiversity and species shifts.

Season 2 of the Forest Climate Change Science & Practice took a new approach – coupling lunch hour webinars with follow up field tours. This new hybrid model provided the ideal balance between information sharing and in-depth discussions in the field, with each session focused on a specific forest type in Maine.

Spruce-fir (Inland) at the Penobscot Experimental Forest

During the webinar, participants learned about the decades of research at the PEF. Discussions in the field focused on how different management techniques lead to vastly different results in the woods. The first stop on the tour looked at selection cutting and commercial clearcut, and the discussion focused on how viable each method would be for landowners. At stop two, presenters and participants compared a shelterwood without thinning and with thinning. Here, discussion focused on future forest stand development and what conditions make a forest more resilient to climate change and enhance carbon storage. The tour’s final stop visited a strip clear cut focusing on operations and how adaptability is key to changing winter conditions.

Oak-pine at the Holt Research Forest

The series continued in December, focusing on the Holt Research Forest in Arrowsic, Maine. The  Holt Research Forest , owned by the Maine Timber Research & Environmental Education Foundation (Maine TREE), is a long-term forest research and monitoring site, launched in 1983. Two timber harvests have taken place in that time. The most recent occurred one growing season before the tour in the winter of 2020/21. This session featured longtime Holt Research Forest scientist Jack Witham, consulting forester Barrie Brusila, Maine TREE Programs and Outreach Coordinator Kelly French, and MFS District Forester Shane Duigan.

The webinar featured key findings during the nearly 40-years of continuous monitoring. Findings include the loss of hardwood regeneration due to increased deer browse and oak regeneration patterns linked to masting years. Additionally, the forest experienced shifts in small mammal species, highlighted by the shift from predominantly Northern flying squirrels ( Glaucomys sabrinus ) to Southern flying squirrels ( Glaucomys volans ) in the early 2000s.

The field tour took participants on a loop around the recently harvested research grid. It included stops at unharvested control areas, canopy gaps created during the harvest, a stream crossing location, and a recently installed deer exclosure. The discussions ranged from the effects of deer herbivory on regeneration to the importance of microclimates and climate-adapted plantings.

Spruce-fir (coastal) at the Schoodic Peninsula

The third session in February focused on coastal spruce-fir forests on the   Schoodic Peninsula . Schoodic Peninsula sits just north of Mount Desert Island and features the only portion of Acadia National Park on the mainland. During this session, participants heard from  Schoodic Institute  President & CEO Nick Fisichelli and Forest Ecology Director Peter Nelson, along with MFS District Forester Michael Jensen, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIFW) Regional Biologist Steve Dunham, and Maine Coast Heritage Trust Project Manager Bob DeForrest.

Online, the virtual session highlighted Nelson’s work using remote sensing to monitor forest health and wildlife connectivity on the peninsula. In the field, DeForrest led the group along trails of the  Forbes Pond Preserve , a Maine Coast Heritage Trust property on the peninsula, where conversations ranged from silviculture and recreation management to the value of ecological features such as lichen and coarse woody material. After visiting the Preserve, the group made their way to Frazer Point in Acadia National Park, where Fisichelli described the peninsula’s recent history and forest practices. The group then walked through an older spruce-fir forest where the park recently constructed a bike path to increase recreational opportunities.

Mixed hardwoods in the Rangeley Lakes Regions

To set the stage for the field tour and highlight the partnerships, the webinar emphasized a landscape-level perspective of forest management and conservation in the region before focusing on hardwood management in a changing climate.

During the final field tour, participants visited the Stephen Phillips Memorial Trust Preserve, managed by the Seven Islands Land Company (who also provides forest management services for RLHT) and under a conservation easement held by RLHT. The Preserve hosts varying stages of hardwood forest development, including recently harvested areas and areas where harvesting hasn’t recently occurred. This property provided a strong example of uneven-aged forest management in hardwood systems. Where harvesting hasn’t taken place recently, discussions focused on managing for diversity and carbon. When visiting the site where harvesting occurred over the winter, conversations shifted to the importance of having a skilled workforce, which was apparent when reviewing the expertly tended stand.  

Building a Community of Practice

The varying backgrounds of the participants amplified the benefits of these connections during each session. From government agencies at the federal and state level to conservation nonprofits and land management companies, everyone on the field tours played the role of teacher and student, bringing their unique perspectives to the conversation.

Key Themes

USFS Research Forester, Laura Kenefic, posed the most important consideration during the first session:  “The treatments we visit have varying carbon storage, adaptation, and climate and market resilience outcomes. An approach that is good for one objective is not necessarily good for others. How do we balance these competing demands, and what are the tradeoffs?”

As it often is in forestry, the answer is:  ‘it depends.’

If you’d like to learn about the Forest Climate Change Initiative and Forest Stewards Guild Forest Climate Change Science & Practice series, or watch webinar recordings, visit: https://crsf.umaine.edu/fcci-webinars/ .

Written by Logan Johnson and Maddie Eberly of the Forest Stewards Guild, and Meg Fergusson of University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests.

The series’ second season kicked off in October with the spruce-fir (inland) forests at the  Penobscot Experimental Forest (PEF)  in Bradley, Maine. The PEF is a research forest jointly managed by the University of Maine (UMaine) and the United States Forest Service (USFS). This webinar and field tour featured USFS Research Scientist Laura Kenefic, UMaine Forest Manager Keith Kanoti, UMaine wildlife faculty Alessio Mortelliti, and Maine Forest Service (MFS) District Forester Kenny Fergusson.

In April, the final session of the series focused on mixed hardwood ecosystems in Western Maine’s Rangeley Lakes region. The Rangeley Lakes region is unique for its mixed-hardwood forests and the range of partnerships and ownerships in the region working in concert to steward the forest resource. The session featured  Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust (RLHT)  staff, including Executive Director David Miller, Deputy & Stewardship Director Shelby Rousseau, and Natural Resource Specialist Jason Latham as well as Christine Parrish and Alec Giffen of the  New England Forestry Foundation , Walker Day of  Seven Islands Land Company , Private Lands Wildlife Biologist Joe Roy for Maine DIFW, and MFS District Forester Julie Davenport.

Each session provided an opportunity to build the climate change community of practice that convened for the first time at the Science and Practice Forum in 2020. The virtual format adopted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to provide a platform for addressing the science and practice of climate change-related impacts to professionals from every corner of the state. The addition of field tours created a new avenue to develop the community with opportunities for in-depth discussions about the challenges managers face in the woods. The field tours also provided a vehicle for informal conversations and connections while traveling to field sites, and of course, over lunch with friends in the field.

Many subthemes emerged within the primary theme of climate change throughout the series. Each site highlighted the impacts and disturbances such as windthrow, insects and diseases, and other climate-related impacts that influence management decisions. Wildlife also emerged as a key theme throughout the series. Changing forest conditions change how wildlife use the forest, and forest connectivity is essential for providing forest corridors for all types of wildlife. Finally, each session specifically focused on communicating with landowners about climate change. MFS District Foresters joined each panel and field tour to discuss their experience talking with landowners who have climate change on their minds. Engaging landowners is critical to addressing climate change in Maine’s forests at a scale that makes a difference.

Welcome Maddie Eberly full time to the Guild team!

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Maddie Eberly (she/they) is our new Northeast Intern. Maddie brings a unique perspective to the Guild with degrees in forestry and botany. Originally from Lititz, PA and a graduate of the University of Maine, Maddie has deep roots in northeastern forest ecosystems.

Here’s more, from Maddie:

I first attended a Guild event in the summer of 2019. At the time, I was interning with Nancy Olmstead, then the Invasive Plant Biologist at the Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP). The event was a Northeast Gathering for Guild members. It was such an excellent experience getting to meet new natural resource professionals, some of whom I am still in contact with. Following the internship with MNAP, I worked in the Wason Lab of Forest Ecosystem Physiology where I completed a summer as a field and lab technician supporting the research of a couple wonderful graduate students. I finished my final year of study at the University of Maine and graduated in the spring of 2021 with dual degrees in forestry and botany. Following graduation, I returned to work at MNAP as a Conservation Aide for a year. Knowing that my time with MNAP was ending, I was searching for a new position and happily stumbled upon this opening at the Guild – and here we are!

I’m extremely excited to be working with the Guild to support science communication and outreach within the forestry and natural resource communities. So far, I have been involved with the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange, Women Owning Woodlands, Forestry for the Birds, Woods Wise East outreach project with the Maine Forest Service, and a bit of other projects as well! Based out of the Maine office, I’m looking forward to developing and working on a summer project as well as seeing where I can be the most helpful to others at the Guild. Outside of work, I enjoy being outside to go botanizing (looking at cool plants), rock climbing, biking, hiking, and walking with my dog. I’m also a big fan of sewing, knitting, and making art. There are lots of great events happening in the Northeast this year, and I’m excited to be involved!

Logan adds: We are thrilled to have Maddie join the Guild team in the Northeast. Their interest in developing communication and outreach skills will help Maddie grow as a professional and support the many ongoing and emerging projects in the Northeast. Please join us in welcoming Maddie to the Guild team!

Written by Maddie Eberly and Logan Johnson

FSYC and AHAL: a story of experience from the recent seasons

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

My name is Genevieve Conley and I was born and raised in Santa Fe, NM. Growing up in the Southwest, I spent most of my time outside exploring and fostering a deep connection with the high-elevation forests that I call home. Wildfires and prescribed burns were a part of the life I lived outdoors, but I only had experience with them from afar. Fire was simply a feature on the landscape or a subject in a class, but not something that I felt could be a job. My curiosity for firefighting began in college but I never had a chance for on-the-ground experience. Instead, I spent my summers and schooling focused on landscape ecology, monitoring, and rangeland science until I found the Forest Stewards Guild programs.

I stumbled into the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) fire program in fall 2021, when I had just finished a biological monitoring contract with the New Mexico State Land Office. I was preparing for fieldwork in Chihuahua, Mexico, and was searching for my next outdoor adventure. I loved hiking, spending time outside, and I had always wanted to apply for a fire position but lacked all the basic training required by most agencies. The fall program provided the perfect in-depth introduction to many aspects of fire operations, fire ecology, forest management, and thinning and reforestation efforts. On the FSYC crew, I strengthened my leadership skills outdoors, traveled to places in New Mexico I had never seen before, and had the thrilling experience of putting fire on the ground on burns of up to 2000 acres.

One of my first broadcast burns was on the Enseñada Rx in the Carson National Forest. This was my first burn with combined aerial and ground ignition. I started the day on a holding team that was assigned to climb to where the first igniters were going to start. The view was amazing and we could see the helicopter flying above the sections that were already glowing with fire. As the sun set, my team climbed down from our assigned patrol area and were headed out of the fire when we were called to a spot fire. We quickly raced up the hill using only the light from the burning forest around us and our headlamps. The burst of energy and teamwork necessary to complete our task was exhilarating. This experience left me wanting to know more about operations and explore other aspects of prescribed burning.

In winter 2022, I had the opportunity to be a squad member on the All Hands All Lands Pile Squad to continue my fire education. Working on a smaller crew, I gained more specialized skills and direct mentorship that helped build my confidence. I grew as a beginner sawyer, had my first experience burning piles on private and federal lands, and had the opportunity to not only learn but teach what I had learned to others. The pile squad put my strength to the test hiking with saws through the snow in Trampas, NM, and climbing up steep slopes in 10-24 inches of snow in the Valles Caldera. I not only hiked more miles than I ever had during winter months before, but I gained a broader understanding of the intensive planning and year-round efforts necessary for fire mitigation and maintenance of forest health.

Both experiences have given me a better understanding of on-the-ground fire management and forest restoration initiatives. I view this work and the knowledge I gained as an essential piece of my ecological education given the changing climate and increase of wildfire activity across the country. I plan to continue my professional career in sustainability and environmental sciences to conserve the natural places we call home. These hands-on experiences have enriched my understanding of forest and fire ecology and will continue to serve me in my future environmental career.

Written by Genevieve Conley

OSU’s Forest Stewards Guild Student Chapter Takes on New Heights at Mt. Hood Meadows

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Luke VanBuskirk, OSU Student Guild Chapter

The trip to Mt. Hood was an amazing opportunity for the student chapter of the Forest Stewards Guild to learn about vegetation management in a busy outdoor recreation setting. It was also a good opportunity for professional development. The Mt. Hood Meadows ski area (Meadows) is an interesting case study of cooperation between a private entity and a federal agency. On this trip students were educated by Meadows staff and US Forest Service (USFS) members on how ecological, social, and economic values were balanced at the resort. Ski area project planning processes and federal regulations were also discussed. Students learned that Meadows leases Forest Service land and that resort actions must adhere to management standards set by the agency. Local tribal entities also inform the management of the resort. Every project, such as the building of the new Sahale lodge, must go through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planning process unless it falls under a categorical exclusion (CE). Efforts to improve recreation for resort visitors always consider the important plant and animal species on the mountain and conservation measures are applied.

Students were also able to hear about each presenter’s academic and career paths and how they got to their current position. Each presenter had their own unique path and were able to share what advice they had for how to get into a natural resource career. The most strongly impressed idea was that of the accumulation of experience wherever students can get it. In total there were three Meadows staff, including CEO and Chairman – Matthew Drake, Heidi Logosz – Sustainability Manager & Executive Administrator, and Mel Toney – Vice President of Mountain Operations, as well as five USFS staff Allisson Sweeney – Mountain Resort Team Permit Administrator, Scott Kaden – Mountain Resort Team Ranger, Jessica Moot – Customer Service Representative, Kathy Mitchell – Communications Specialist, and Kameron Sam – Hood River District Ranger. Getting to have the whole day with that many industry professionals is a rare and incredibly valuable occurrence.

After a lunch with all the ski area staff and Forest Service team, students and speakers made their way up the mountain and were able to talk one-on-one while enjoying the recreational activities provided on the mountain. Half the group were provided with a personalized ski tour with some of the Forest Service team and the other half enjoyed a snowshoe tour (many snowshoeing for the first time ever) with District Ranger Sam, Communications Specialist Mitchell, and the Snowshoe Program’s Team Lead – Debbie Bauer to Sahale Falls. It could not have been a more beautiful day to explore the snowy terrain, connect with Forestry professionals, and connect with each other.

When asked about the club outing and the experience, Noah Clark, a first-year student at OSU stated,

“If one trip could capture all the reasons why I joined the club this would have been it. Not only did we get to learn a lot of valuable information about how ski resorts work with the US Forest Service to manage the land to make a safe enjoyable experience for their guests, but we also got to hang out and explore some super cool parts of Oregon and soak in the national forest. To top it all off, the people I got to spend time with were incredible. Not only did I get to know some of my fellow guild members better, but I was also able to have one-on-one conversations with some of the US Forest Service employees. During these conversations they gave me insights on different management strategies and techniques they use in the area along with helpful tips on future potential employment with the Forest Service.”

Noah was ecstatic to learn more about the details within the mountain’s operations. He also added about how the club outing gripped perspective to a place he has frequented since his younger years,

“I have been skiing at Meadows for most of my life and before this trip I had never thought about all the different agencies and guidelines that are working in the background to make the resort both fun for the guests while reducing the impact of recreation and development on the surrounding forest. Walking away from this trip I have a newfound appreciation for the intricacies of managing a ski resort at both the private and federal levels. I also gained a few rad stories and great friends!”

Not only was the outing a valuable experience for the 10 OSU and 1 professional Forest Stewards Guild Member in attendance, but it provided a lens for alternative forest management positions that students can apply their interests, skills, and passions in. Pulling all the necessary pieces together to make this trip feasible was immensely rewarding as a club leader. Luke VanBuskirk, the Vice President of the student chapter at OSU, commented:

“Being a part of the whole process from start to finish– including planning, sitting for hours with Oregon State University’s Student Organizations & Activities office members to help grant funding for the trip, booking the reservations, organizing the itinerary for travel, to leading into the whole experience at the mountain at a brand-new, breathtaking lodge on a bright, beautiful day at Mt. Hood made for an immaculate experience that will always be remembered.” Luke also added, “I wouldn’t be able to do this without the incredible support of the university, the college of forestry, other leaders of the club, and the members that attend club meetings on a bi-weekly basis. It really is one big family, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity.”

As a student organization, our main goal is to find opportunities to learn outside the classroom and find time to apply knowledge learned in school to our chosen field. The Forest Stewards Guild has been an incredible source of opportunity for our club to reach these goals. We are incredibly thankful and humbled to Meadows Heidi Logosz and USFS’ Allison Sweeney for helping organize and connecting with our student group and sharing their knowledge and experience with us.

New Mexico Women Deliver Firewood to Seniors

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Women Owning Woodlands group encompasses the mostly rural and mountainous areas of northern New Mexico. During the fall of 2021, we organized a project to give women the opportunity to work on chainsaw and wood-processing skills while also helping out local people in need of firewood for the winter.

The area surrounding the towns of Chama and Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, is very rural. People in this area ranch, hunt, and still rely on firewood for heat in the winter, and often for cooking, too. Older and/or disabled people who can no longer manage the demanding physical work required to get wood from forest to woodpile generally rely on younger family members or neighbors to get their winter supply in. And, of course, there are always people that live alone, don’t have family nearby, and never have enough. This is where our local WOW group wanted to find a niche.

So, where do we get the wood? The mountains of northern New Mexico are very prone to catastrophic wildfire and tree mortality due to decades of drought and fire suppression. Many land owners and managers are implementing very proactive forest management strategies that include a lot of thinning, mostly of standing dead wood, which is ideal for firewood. A local landowner and member of our WOW group offered to let us take wood from an ongoing thinning project on her land.

We spent one full day cutting and hauling logs and then split and delivered loads as we had time over the next several weeks. We were lucky to have plenty of people (some good men too!), sawyers, heavy equipment, log splitters, and trucks, but we still hardly made a dent in the amount of excess wood needing removal from that property.

Using our own equipment, backs, and time, and partnering with both the local senior center and another local group, the Chama Peak Land Alliance, we delivered firewood to over a dozen people in need.

The local community really rallied around this project, which was a great unanticipated benefit, and our WOW group plans to continue getting firewood to those in need this year. Last fall, project planning was pretty spontaneous and on-the-fly, and we needed quite a bit of help from people and groups outside of WOW to get it done. And we squeezed in just before winter really set in. This year, however, we have the lessons we learned and more time to plan.

Our 2022 focus will be “women helping women.” We plan to identify a manageable number of women in need from within our own network of friends and neighbors, focusing on quality more than quantity. We will start earlier and strategize based on how much wood we can realistically provide with just WOW community volunteers, time, and equipment. We will also continue to utilize wood from our own lands, promote wood gathering for the dual benefit of land stewardship and firewood access, and provide opportunities for women to gain valuable skills such as chainsaw use.

Written by Sarah DeMay

The Women Owning Woodlands Conference in Review: March 2022

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Maddie Eberly

Eager to learn from natural resource professionals while sharing stories and plans from their own lands, 215 participants gathered for the Women Owning Woodlands Conference in early March.

The conference began on a lively note with a presentation about Pam Wells, Maine Tree Farmer and popular women’s chainsaw safety instructor, highlighting her story as a woodland owner and of her path to forestry. When she and her husband bought their woodlands, like so many others, Pam realized she needed to learn how to be a steward and take care of the land. She learned from her forester how to get started on writing management plans, and then reenrolled in forestry courses. Wells actively harvests on her land while managing for wildlife and has become a great resource to landowners, forestry students, and others.

During Pam’s presentation, participants flooded the chat with questions and story sharing. Conference attendees were then given the option of choosing a breakout room focused on topics such as “Wildlife in Your Woods,” “Invasive Species,” and “The Fire Within Us.” The meeting closed with a thoughtful reflection on the presentations heard and how they impacted those in attendance.

“This group has passion, an awesome comradery of women in conservation!” – Kristie in Pennsylvania

“I so appreciate this conference, empowering women to care for the land. …I reflect on my grandfather being a lumberman in Maine 100 years ago to the possibility of passing down our woods in MN to our daughters in the future.” – Julie in Minnesota

The second day brought many more knowledgeable, fabulous presenters. Ebonie Alexander, Executive Director from the Black Family Land Trust (BFLT), presented on legacy planning and her work with the BFLT. She had a robust career in the natural resources. Alexander inherited land in Virginia, where she lives today. In her keynote speech, she stated, “With every generation that you own your land, you should make the land human. I have stories about every generation that we can go back to on this land…. What they did, how they reacted, and how they lived.” Remember that spot where your sibling climbed that gigantic tree? Or the place where your parent would sit each evening soaking in the sun and listening to the evening sounds? Alexander emphasized this connection to land while telling her story and uplifted the possibility of keeping land within a family for generations to come. BFLT has worked with landowners committed to keeping land in their families. Alexander has helped lead the way to land retention and protection for many families over the years and continues to help people who want to make their land more human. After Ebonie’s presentation, conference participants had the chance to connect through small group discussions, hearing each other’s stories and connecting through stories of the land.

“My daughter learned to walk at our cabin in the woods.” – Stacey in Minnesota

“Our woodlands help provide a wonderful place to spend time reflecting and becoming more grounded.” WOWConference_article – Ingrid in Wisconsin

“I’m a singer/song writer and enjoyed writing and producing children’s songs about our land, while spending time on the land when my boys were little!” – Sara in Maine

Following these discussions, a “Questions & Answers” session with knowledgeable women professionals allowed participants the opportunity to have their questions answered on a variety of topics including management planning, climate change, invasive species, non-timber products, forest pests, wildfire and prescribed fire, and timber harvests. Once again, the day closed in reflection.

On the third and final day of gathering, participants were given the opportunity to attend two sessions of their choice to grow and develop skills to steward their land. The sessions included “Chainsaw Personal Protective Equipment for Women,” “Forest Products Beyond Timber,” “Wildlife and Working Forests,” “Tree Syruping and Mushroom Cultivation,” “Setting Goals for My Land,” and “Adapting Homes and Communities to Wildfire.” The presenters each held immense expertise in their topics and gladly welcomed the questions and discussions brought by participants. Following these sessions, everyone reconvened and reflected on what was learned and what will be done. Participants were asked to set two goals for themselves, one short-term and one long-term, that would guide them in the care of their land and connection to it.

“Short term: comprehensive walkthrough of the property with my family and inventory. Long term: working with county forester to create a plan” – Sharon in Wisconsin

“Short and long term: spend more time” – Hoi Ning in Maine

“Short term: complete thinning operation and long term: open and maintain 2-4 miles of preexisting trails” – Patricia in Washington

Watch Ebonie Alexander’s full presentation on the Forest Stewards Guild’s YouTube channel.

“‘Off to the woods, now’. Full of inspiration!” – Kathleen in Minnesota

Meet Sarah DeMay, Fire Professional and Land Steward

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Liz Bailey

Sarah DeMay is a fire professional and land steward whose experience with wildland fire, both personally and professionally, gives her a unique perspective and motivation to be a resource for other landowners in New Mexico.

Sarah’s relationship with forests began at a young age as she grew up playing in the woods of rural Oregon. After graduating college with a degree in biology, Sarah moved to New Mexico for a six-month internship working with the Fire Ecology program at Bandelier National Monument. She stayed on as a crew leader at Bandelier, and thus began her crash course into the world of wildland fire and fire management.

Sarah met her husband, Sam, while working on fire mitigation efforts on his inholding property within Bandelier National Monument, where they have since raised their two children. Sarah left the National Park Service in 2010 to focus on her family and land stewardship. In 2011, the Las Conchas fire burned through their community in Bandelier, decimating the forest in which they lived and further shaping Sarah’s relationship with land stewardship.

Sarah and Sam have found it rewarding to watch the land recover from fire, but they are also preparing for the future on a more water-secure property near Tierra Amarilla, NM, working to reduce wildfire risk on their property and ensure the land’s survival for their children.

A full interview article with Sarah is available on the Women Owning Woodlands website, including her insights in response to the following questions:

What first interested you in forestry and fire?
What was it like for you, being so new to the field of fire and having such a catastrophic fire event happen? How did that shape your perception of the field?
Can you tell me more about your experiences working in fire?
Tell me more about the Las Conchas fire?
How has it been watching the landscape recover from the Las Conchas fire?
How did experiencing a major wildfire first-hand as a landowner shape your land stewardship approach?
What was different about being a female fire professional? How did your gender play a role in your experience?
What’s some advice you have for female landowners or something you think is important for female landowners to know?
What has been the most rewarding or memorable part of your career (in fire or as a land steward)?
What would you like to see from landowners in Northern New Mexico in the future?
What role do you see yourself playing as a fire professional and steward in the future?

Membership and Policy Council Update, February 2022

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Laura Schweitzer, MPC Chair

We have a really impressive group of professionals engaging in the Membership and Policy Council (MPC) this year. The discussions on critical forestry issues to be addressed are vibrant, and MPC members are as committed as ever to engaging Forest Stewards Guild (Guild) members in professional fellowship.

The MPC has met twice in the virtual world since the start of 2022. A workplan has emerged and the year looks to be a full one. Issues the MPC plans to take on include forestry and energy, the 30×30 initiative, Tribal engagement, model forests, carbon and climate change, and Guild member engagement and outreach. The MPC will work on these issues using a variety of means, including establishment of MPC subgroups and outreach to experts for learning and dialogue.

Last year, the MPC discussed at length questions related to its own identity – who is in the MPC now, who should be in it in future, how can we encourage a diversity of perspectives and profiles to run for positions on the MPC? These questions persist into 2022 as part of a healthy reflection that also relates more broadly to member engagement and opportunities for involvement in the Guild and its leadership bodies. We hope all Guild members will consider this dialogue and know they are welcome to be part of it. Have ideas for ways we members can come together in professional dialogue more or differently? The metaphorical door of the MPC is open, and we welcome your insights. Reach out to Colleen Robinson on the Guild staff with ideas and the MPC will be sure to consider or take them up. Thanks in advance for your participation and enthusiasm.

The Guild brings together professionals from our sector that seem to share a commitment to the pursuit of balance among ecological, social, and economic values. Within the MPC is an energy for really digging into issues that matter and finding creative ways to engage our fellow Guild members in community. I’m grateful to be part of this group and to be able to share with Guild members about the awesome slate of work we’re getting up to!

Wetland Forest Conservation in Georgia

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Dakota Wagner

At a Guild bottomland hardwoods workshop in Brunswick, Georgia in 2018 participants were asked: what are the limitations and barriers to wetland restoration and protection? Among others, answers included:

the lack of education, awareness, and guidance for private landowners,
the lack of wood product markets for many primary wetland tree species,
the lack of low impact harvesting equipment, and
the lack of a more comprehensive suite of conservation incentives aimed at wetland restoration.

Restoring Georgia’s wetlands has been a topic of great interest to that event’s cohost Gordon Rogers of Flint Riverkeeper for the last four decades. In 2019, a Sapelo Foundation grant provided an opportunity for the Guild to work with Flint Riverkeeper on an advocacy project focused on wetland restoration in Georgia.

We began our work with the vision to reverse the trend of wetlands loss and increase the acres of wetlands restored and conserved in Georgia’s forest landscapes. One primary goal was to build the foundation for a policy strategy to create a state-level incentive program for wetland forest conservation.

After months of research, communicating with a diverse array of stakeholders, and weekly meetings, we are publishing the results of our findings. This report provides information about approaches to creating a viable program to incentivize wetlands conservation in Georgia. Our vision is to use our findings to influence key non-governmental players in Georgia to work with elected and appointed policymakers to develop a wetlands conservation incentives program that increases the acreage of functional wetlands in the state.

Report Snapshot
Wetlands in the state of Georgia cover approximately 18.4 percent of the state’s landscape. Unfortunately, historical and current wetland losses due to land conversion have negatively impacted these sites. As an alternative to government regulations, voluntary wetland restoration will be critical to the long-term conservation of wetland areas. Our report aims to provide information about how to strategically approach the creation of a viable program to incentivize wetland conservation on private lands in the state of Georgia. Based on research findings and stakeholder input, a basic recommended program outline was identified.

In summary, this program should be targeted towards private forest landowners and aim to restore degraded wetlands to proper hydrological function, create and incentivize appropriate wetland forest management activity parameters, and protect wetland resources through long-term conservation easements. Economic incentive programs can often be structured to achieve greater conservation goals than would result from traditional regulation. This program, whether started from square one or incorporated into an existing program, will build on current regional conservation partnerships to further increase the capacity of wetlands conservation.

Editor’s note: the feature image of this article provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Darwin Day at UA – this month’s student voice

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Aurora Baker, Guild student member, The University of Alabama

Darwin Day is more than just a celebration of the father of evolution: it’s a celebration of science with the purpose of spreading information and generating interest among the public. The University of Alabama celebrated Darwin Day by hosting an event in the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Although Darwin Day at UA is geared towards school-aged children to increase general interest in STEM, the event also included college students across a variety of majors and interests. A wide range of informational tables included topics such as clams, fossils, and the evolution of Homo sapiens.

The UA Student Chapter of the Forest Stewards Guild had its own table highlighting phototropism and Darwin’s contributions to the subject. Phototropism is the concept of plants bending towards or away from light, which is now known to be the result of the hormone auxin leading to cell growth and elongation in the shaded part of the plant. Darwin and his son, Francis, conducted the earliest experiments in this field, while scientists such as Boysen-Jensen and Went made further contributions. To demonstrate this concept, our table included a pipe cleaner craft of a flower bending towards the sun. Visitors were able to learn a scientific concept and take part in a fun activity. Darwin Day isn’t the only thing the UA Student Chapter has been up to these past few months. We have also hosted game nights, tree ID hikes, and Project Learning Tree training. So, there’s never a dull moment!

Highlighting Author and Icon: Gloria Brown

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Maddie Eberly

Gloria Brown was the first African American woman to hold the position of a forest supervisor with the United States Forest Service (USFS), running the Siuslaw and later the Los Padres National Forests. Throughout her career, Brown was a catalyst for change and a genuine icon in USFS. Brown credited her career to all the relationships made and people met along the way.

Brown had not started her career in forestry. She first joined USFS as a transcriber in Washington, D.C. When her husband passed away, she was forced to move west to Missoula, Montana, continuing work with USFS. The local community was mostly white, and nearly immediately Brown and her family were subjected to blatant racism. Brown recounts this experience and others in her book, Black Woman in Green.

Brown moved her family to Oregon in search of a safer environment, taking a new administrative position with USFS. Around this time, Brown realized she wanted to become a forest supervisor, and she needed to become a forester. Brown found a public affairs officer position and organized an appointment with the forest supervisor. Knowing that they had not published a forest management plan, she declared that if she was made public affairs officer she would take no leave or training, and work to get the forest management plan published promptly. In return, she asked for a sabbatical to go to Oregon State University to study forestry. With recommendation, she applied and got the job. The forest management plan got published, and Brown received her promised sabbatical and became a forester. Her career took off. Brown’s next position was as a deputy ranger in the Rigdon region of Idaho. She was then employed as an area manager with the Bureau of Land Management. Subsequently, Brown served in the Mount St. Helens area as manager. Then, reaching her goal, Brown became forest supervisor of the Siuslaw National Forest and later, Los Padres National Forest.

Brown made an impact everywhere she went. She advocated for the rights of women experiencing sexism in Rigdon. She received honorary memberships in Idaho with the ranchers’ and miners’ associations. With the Trust for Public Lands in Idaho, Brown facilitated returning land to the Nez Perce Tribe. At Mount St. Helens, she changed the classification of scientists performing surveys from information specialist to interpretive specialist. In the Siuslaw watershed, her team redirected the river, removed dams, and saw the swift return of salmon. The work eventually received the Thiess International Riverprize.

Brown recounted in a 2020 interview with Rachel Kline for USFS HerStory project, “As I was doing it, I don’t think I stopped long enough to realize … or even think of myself as a change agent.” Brown repeatedly experienced racism and sexism throughout her career. Brown said diversity is still lacking in USFS.

Gloria Brown, with Donna Sinclair, wrote Black Woman in Green: Gloria Brown and the Unmarked Trail to Forest Service Leadership , published in February of 2020 recounting her USFS service from 1974 to 2007. Brown wrote her book to tell her story to future generations of her family. Brown stated in the HerStory interview, “If you sit down and think about where you started, where you are, and where you’re going, and then once you get there, I think we all have a story.”

Brown passed away September 7, 2021. Donna Sinclair, in her tribute to Brown, said, “She [Brown] never let anything stop her. Once she decided to advance in the agency, she strategized about how to do it. She then made it happen by sheer force of will and smarts, laced with wit and charm.”

The full tribute can be found on the Oregon State University Press’s website.

The full USFS HerStory article with Gloria Brown can be found on the USFS’s website.

The full USFS HerStory interview can be found in the National Forest Service Library.

Brown and Sinclair’s book, Black Woman in Green: Gloria Brown and the Unmarked Trail to Forest Service Leadership can be found on the Oregon State University Press’s website, and through other book sellers.

Editor’s note: this article was written in honor of Black History Month 2022 and highlights the first African American woman forest supervisor with the United States Forest Service (USFS).

Management To Encourage Old Forest Characteristics

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

It’s no surprise to Guild members how important old growth forests are. They play essential roles in wildlife habitat, species diversity, hydrological regimes, nutrient cycles, carbon storage, and numerous other ecological processes. The unique structures and attributes of old growth forests increase species diversity by providing habitat for plant and animal species such as lichen, bats, birds, and mammals that are not found in other forest types. Though it is hard to measure quantitatively, old growth forests are also important because of the sense of awe they inspire, for recreation, and spiritual values.

For forest stewards, old growth forests can provide an important model for sustainable management. The Guild’s principles underscore that responsible forest management imitates nature’s dynamic processes and minimizes impacts when harvesting trees and other products.

The Guild is hosting a series of webinars to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and techniques for encouraging old forest attributes. In case you missed it, Guild member Dr. Bill Keeton presented Managing for Old Growth Characteristics in Temperate Forests Globally last year. Coming up soon are two more webinars on management to encourage old forest characteristics:

Accelerating the development of structural complexity , January 27
Managing for the parts of the sum , February 24

Because of the importance of old growth forests, managers and scientists have explored active management techniques that can encourage younger forests to develop old growth attributes in a shorter time frame than simply waiting for the forest to grow old and large on its own. Managing maturing forests to include large live trees, standing dead trees, large downed logs, and structural diversity can help support wildlife and plants that depend on old growth. Areas managed for old forest characteristics can improve connectivity between existing old growth stands or can act as buffer zones between more intensively managed forests and old growth stands. Working to encourage these attributes also increases carbon storage and regeneration compared to conventional management. Where appropriate, management to foster old forest characteristics may help offset the global decline of old growth forests.

Managers interested in encouraging old forest attributes need to consider contemporary stressors, such as the changing climate and invasive species, that may make emulating old forests more difficult. Promoting old forest characteristics can also present different operational challenges and risks than traditional forestry. For example, retention of large, downed logs can make driving through the stand difficult and snag retention increases the risk to forest workers.

MPC Update: recap on 2021

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Alex Barrett, departing MPC Chair

The Membership and Policy Council had a busy and productive 2021. Despite the challenges that the pandemic continues to dish out, we managed to make great strides on key policy areas, strengthen our student membership, support professional members, and learn and laugh a lot along the way.

In August, we presented a Policy Statement on Fire, Forest Management, and Communities to the Membership and it was overwhelmingly approved. This Statement was the product of an ad-hoc group that included MPC, Board, and staff members. This combination of perspectives and expertise made for a fun process, and a great product. As usual, members also had an amazing array of thoughtful and helpful comments that will keep this discussion alive and well. Please know that this input is what makes it all worthwhile for MPC members as we seek to engage with members while at the same time further the Guild’s mission.

In December, we wrapped up work on the Silviculture for Planted Areas Policy Statement and the Membership approved it as well. This serves as a wonderful companion to our earlier Silviculture for Natural Forests Policy Statement . With the Planted Areas Statement, we now have a firm platform from which to recognize, consider, and improve upon how we manage planted areas as we try to bring our Guild style of management to all forest types.

In conjunction with our Policy work, we hosted a series of guests at our monthly meetings throughout the year. This allowed for a lot of learning, connections, and inspiration across ideas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, silviculture, fire, and wildlife management.

As I step away from the MPC after 5 wonderful years, I want to take the opportunity to thank my fellow MPC’ers – you are all inspirational, professional, and awesome, and I have appreciated the opportunity to work with you. Also, a special thanks to Nancy Patch for recruiting me way back when! Incoming Chair Laura Schweitzer will continue the great work here. Please be in touch with her and other MPC members if you have ideas or would like to be involved.

Welcome to our newest members: Jan-Willem Jansens and Steven Olson . Thank you for your enthusiasm to serve on the MPC! Stay tuned for the next MPC update, sharing their outlook for 2022.

The Guild receives a Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship grant

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Shawn Swartz

The Forest Stewards Guild is pleased to announce that we have received funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as part of their Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Project, created to restore forest and freshwater habitat for central Appalachian wildlife. Central Appalachia boasts some of the most biologically diverse, temperate deciduous forests in the United States. Some of the wildlife benefitted by this project including ruffed grouse, brook trout, hellbender, and forest birds. The Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Project will enable more than 40 different landowners to improve management on more than 1,100 acres of public and private forests and monitor bird populations on 18,000 acres of forests.

The funding will allow the Forest Stewards Guild to increase awareness, capacity, and acreage for bird-friendly forestry in Central Appalachia. Our team will develop a dynamic forest plan across 5,000 acres of privately-owned forest in West Virginia. Three new demonstration sites will be developed on this forest block and will serve as hubs for 5 outreach and technical training opportunities for landowners, practitioners, and future practitioners. This training will increase capacity by training both potential and current NRCS technical service providers. The dynamic forest block will further serve as the landscape for connectivity mapping and bird occupancy mapping, which will be incorporated into an ArcGIS StoryMap that will be pivotal in effective landowner and practitioner outreach and training. Our team will develop a forest management plan template that will increase efficiency and capacity for wildlife forestry in Central Appalachia and that will connect landowners to cost share through NRCS.

The Forest Stewards Guild is proud to have received this award and is excited to work with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation along with the many other partners involved in the project to increase the environmental, economic, and social health and resilience of the Central Appalachian Forests.

Reflections on the Greater Santa Fe Watershed South Aztec Prescribed Burn

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Liz Bailey

On October 27th, I showed up to the South Aztec prescribed fire in the Santa Fe National Forest excited, a little nervous, and ready for a busy day of arduous work on my first prescribed fire. Partners from the Pueblo of Tesuque, the Forest Stewards Guild, Forest Stewards Youth Corps, Santa Fe County, and the City of Santa Fe Fire Department gathered early in the morning to discuss safety, logistics, and role assignments for the fire. As the morning progressed, the phrase “hurry up and wait” was used several times while the fire managers conducted phone calls, weather monitoring, and a test burn to confirm that conditions were right to begin the prescribed fire.

Prescribed burns, especially those that occur close to communities and high-value resources like the South Aztec burn unit, require a tremendous amount of planning and coordination. When a burn plan is written, a prescription is developed that sets ranges for environmental and weather conditions that must be met for the burn to take place. In preparation for a burn, personnel must retrieve weather forecasts, set up smoke monitors, put up signs, notify the public via news releases, identify any archeological or historical sites, identify threatened or endangered species, involve dispatch support, prepare the control line, coordinate with partners, and more. Due to this fire’s proximity to Santa Fe, the Forest Service worked closely with the NM Environmental Department’s Air Quality Bureau and the New Mexico Department of Health, holding calls before, during and after the fire.

The South Aztec prescribed fire was particularly high profile, not only because it was visible from the City of Santa Fe and surrounding communities, but it also occurred within the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed, where approximately 40% of the city’s water comes from. Seeing a popular campground in the Santa Fe National Forest filled with fire trucks and personnel in wildland firefighting gear was my first reminder of how important this treatment would be in protecting the forest and water resources that so many New Mexicans rely on and cherish. An even more blatant reminder of the importance of this fire would come later in the day when I summited a hill and could see Nichols Reservoir directly below us and the City of Santa Fe in the near distance. 

My job on this prescribed fire, along with about a dozen others, was to hold the fire line. This means walking the fire line, a path that has been cleared down to the mineral soil surrounding the burn unit, looking for any spot fires or “slop-over” that may have occurred from the wind picking up and carrying embers. The burn unit had been previously thinned to reduce fuel loads and was adjacent to several other units that have been treated in the past few years. During prescribed fires, hourly weather readings are taken on-site to make sure that conditions are still within the prescribed ranges. If the weather moves outside of prescribed ranges, i.e., winds grow stronger than allowed in the plan, the burning is halted, or contingency plans are enacted. Although the wind picked up throughout the day on the South Aztec burn, concerning some members of the public, the wind never exceeded the appropriate ranges determined by the prescription. 

Standing on the windward side of the holding line meant that I was in the thick of the smoke. Although the wind conditions were partly to blame for the barrage of smoke, the wind was a key part of the success of the burn, blowing smoke and embers into units that had already treated, effectively creating safer prescribed fire conditions and a manageable fireline for holding. Per the prescription parameters, the winds kept the smoke away from the largest community in the area and kept it from moving into sensitive areas such as schools, hospitals, highways, and airports. 

Historic wildfire suppression and a lack of previous treatments in a fire-adapted ecosystem like the Santa Fe National Forest has left the landscape within this watershed vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire. If wildfires were to occur in the watershed during the typical summer season, nearly 81% of the forest would be subject to high-severity crown fire, and the effects from the smoke would be much worse. Intense wildfire within the watershed would cause debris flows which could compromise the drinking water and lead to a dam breach, putting the city of Santa Fe at risk for severe flooding. Thinning and burning projects within the watershed are critical to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire and protect our municipal water source. 

The diligent planning, highly trained and experienced personnel, and optimal weather conditions all aligned to make this burn successful in achieving its objectives to “reduce the risk of a high-severity crown fire, to protect the municipal water supply and restore sustainable watershed conditions… [and to] increase herbaceous ground cover to improve long-term soil stability and vegetative diversity.” Although the experience was a challenging one, I gained insight into the amount of coordination and logistics it takes to pull off a successful prescribed fire and a newfound respect for fire personnel and the work they do to protect our natural resources and communities. The South Aztec Prescribed Burn demonstrated the important role of the collaborative burn partnerships in protecting the forests and the human communities that depend upon it.

The Guild welcomes new Board members

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Compiled by Zander Evans

The Guild is fortunate to have a Board of Directors with decades of experience in forestry and conservation. In addition to bearing the fiduciary responsibility for the Guild, the board guides our organization through various non-profit challenges toward our goal of making ecologically, economically, and socially responsible stewardship the standard for professional forest management from coast to coast. The board recently voted to add two new members, John Galvan and Sally Bogdanovitch.

Sally Bogdanovitch has been a Professor of Forestry at Paul Smith’s College since 1993. In addition to being a long-time Guild member, Sally is a certified forester through the Society of American Foresters (SAF) and was named a Fellow of SAF in recognition of her sustained leadership and exemplary advancement of the forestry profession. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont and for the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks (aka The Wild Center). She is a board member and recent past Vice President for the Empire State Forest Products Association. Sally also has been a board member for The Center of Northern Woodlands Education which publishes the Northern Woodlands magazine. She is a member of the Adirondack Community Trust and a natural resources consultant. Sally earned her Bachelor of Science in forest management from the University of Vermont and her Master of Forestry from Yale University.

Welcome, and thank you both for your willingness and enthusiasm to serve.

John Galvan is the tribal Forester for the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico. John earned his Bachelor of Science in forestry at Northern Arizona University. He served as both 1st and 2nd Lieutenant Governor under the Pueblo of Jemez Tribal Government and has worked under the US Forest Service in various technician positions. Currently, he is responsible for managing the forestry operations including reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires, promoting overall forest health, protecting forest resources including water and wildlife, coordinating wildfire response, and building program capacity and partnerships to enhance the Pueblo’s ability to protect and to enhance their forest resources. John has long served as a valuable collaborator with the Guild, representing the Pueblo in the Southwest Jemez Mountain Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project and supporting the Guild’s Forest Stewards Youth Corps crew at Jemez Pueblo.

Engaging the Next Generation of Forest Stewards in the Northeast

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Logan Johnson

The Guild’s Northeast office is testing new approaches for engaging forestry students in the region. From in-the-field networking opportunities to informal internship projects to featuring their fantastic work, there are many ways that students can engage with the Guild, not only in the Northeast but nationally.

In May, we hosted a Guild Gathering and Service project at the Holt Research Forest in Arrowsic, Maine. We paired students from the University of Vermont and the University of Maine in groups with foresters and other resource professionals to re-establish the research grid in the forest. This opportunity provided two benefits to the students who attended: networking with professional Forest Stewards Guild members and hands-on field experience.

Throughout the summer, we worked with University of Maine graduate students to support the development of a research project aimed at providing insights for sustaining brown ash, a keystone cultural resource of the Wabanaki people. This project has two tracks: 1) conducting a survey of foresters, loggers, and forest landowners, and 2) developing an integrated pest management strategy for sustaining brown ash across Maine’s landscape. We recently released a video documenting the work of one of these students .

Finally, we are working with a student at the University of Connecticut who is developing a story map that will augment our ongoing project on increasing the resiliency of oak forests in southern New England. This story map will be a resource to help forestry professionals and woodland owners understand the threats that oak forests in the region face and feature landowners and managers who are implementing practices to improve the outlook for oak on their land. This story map will inspire other landowners, managers, and stewards to take action.

Trying new approaches to engaging students enables the Guild to grow our membership while providing unique and rewarding experiences that benefit the next generation of forest stewards.

Guild partners with US Forest Service to foster resilience forests and career training

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Leonora Pepper

On a sunny Wednesday morning this past October, the Mt. Taylor Fire & Fuels Crew stood around a rather lethargic test fire, waiting for the sun to climb higher and dry things out. The ten-person crew was there to support the Copperton prescribed burn on the U.S. Forest Service’s Mt. Taylor Ranger District. The burn had already been delayed two days due to precipitation over the weekend, and fuel moisture was still high, but on this day they were able to move forward with the restoration effort.

Along with Mt. Taylor fire personnel and several Forest Stewards Guild staff members, the bulk of the numbers on hand that day came from the Guild’s Fire & Fuels Crew. The ten crew members hailed from the communities local to New Mexico’s Cibola National Forest including San Fidel, Pueblo of Acoma, Albuquerque, Grants, Gallup, and Milan, and spanned beginners to seasoned wildland firefighters. What they had in common was having worked as seasonal “ADs” (administratively determined temporary employees), working in wildfire suppression for the Forest Service, before being hired by the Guild to support fall prescribed fire efforts on the district.

With funding from our Collaborative Forest Restoration Project (CFRP) in the Zuni Mountains landscape , the Guild took an opportunity to contribute capacity to forest restoration and prescribed fire efforts at a moment in the season when Forest Service seasonal employees are typically laid off. Collaborating with the Cibola National Forest’s Mt. Taylor Ranger District, we hired two seasonal crews—a four-person timber marking crew in addition to the fire and fuels crew—to provide an extended season and extra jobs training to local young people and professionals.

In so much of what we do at the Guild, training the next generation of forest stewards is paramount. Since the 1990s, high school-aged young people in northern New Mexico have participated in the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) summer jobs program, building early-career skills in forestry and natural resource management. In recent years, the Guild’s southwest office has turned increased attention to older youth and the need for stepping-stone opportunities into professional positions. The fall FSYC program, for example, now provides opportunities for 18- to 25-year-olds to build wildland fire skills, while our new Forest Stewards Mentorship Program offers the chance for FSYC alumni to work more closely with Guild staff members, gaining exposure to a variety of program areas and professional skills. The two seasonal Mt. Taylor crews represented another effort to provide skills, training, and job experience to local adults and youth interested in forestry and wildland fire, while also bringing needed capacity for work on the ground.

From July to October, the timber marking crew painted roughly 630 acres of forest in need of restoration thinning treatments. Two of the four crew members are alumni of the FSYC program, and it was satisfying to see them working alongside adult colleagues, applying forestry skills in a land-management context. Mt. Taylor personnel who worked with them spoke highly of the quality of the marking they accomplished, and the district later made the decision to hire for a couple of timber marking seasonal positions to continue the crew’s good work.

After the Copperton Rx burn, the fire & fuels crew went on to participate in several other burns, in a couple of cases providing the critical mass for the operations to be able to happen. When they weren’t out burning, they contributed miles of hand line, prepped acres for burning, and even traveled to two neighboring Forest Service districts to support their prescribed fire efforts. Having the two seasonal crews was a successful collaborative experience between the Guild and our Cibola National Forest partners, and we hope to explore similar initiatives in the future, in the Zuni Mountains landscape of New Mexico and beyond.

Danielle Toya, and her Guild mentorship, embracing the future

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Danielle Toya

My name is Danielle Toya. I am Native American from Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico. I grew up in Jemez Pueblo where the environment around me is filled with natural places: my backyard is a forest, field lands, and a ranch. In this place, I was able to make the best memories and learned how to plant, garden, raise cattle, and live life to the fullest. I am still learning about my environment as I continue to explore and adventure in it.

I am currently in school working towards earning my Associate Degree in Geographic Information Systems, also known as GIS, which is mostly learning to create maps. What made me interested in GIS was working as a crew member for the FSYC (Forest Stewards Youth Corps) summer program. Working with the Jemez Natural Resource Department, we learned how to use Avenza to pinpoint the location of headgates that regulate water flow in the Pueblo acequia system. This allowed me to see the ways GIS could be used in and out of Jemez.

The summer FSYC program helped me see the bigger picture of how GIS can be used in natural resource management, and of the importance of protecting natural resources. This program was a big learning experience for me. Now, my mentorship with the Forest Stewards Guild has given me a chance to build experience while earning my Associate Degree. GIS is such a broad topic and being an intern with the Forest Stewards Guild gives me time to explore different career options.

This mentorship with the Forest Stewards Guild was a great choice for me, to continue working for them on a weekly basis and getting to sit with Guild staff and listen to their experiences and projects they work on. Through my internship, I’ve gotten to experience a working office environment and field projects, including going on a field tour to observe a prescribed burn with Leonora and Rachel, learning about Home Hazard Assessments with Gabe, resume-writing and interview prep with Liz, GIS map creation with Sam and Matt, and working on a wildfire report with Zander.

Guild staff members have also provided me with advice to help me narrow down my career choice and have helped me get my future started by mentoring me to learn. I am grateful for this opportunity allowing me to get an idea of my future and I am grateful for the help of Guild staff. I wish to build on my knowledge and education to someday help preserve and protect our native lands.

Guild Student Feature: Tyler Everett

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Tyler Everett is a citizen of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, a federally recognized tribe of the Wabanaki Confederacy. He is also a Ph.D. student at the University of Maine, a Forester with the Passamaquoddy Forestry Department, and a Forest Adaptation Technical Assistant with the United South and Eastern Tribes. His research at the University of Maine and professional work focuses on developing adaptive management strategies for brown ash in the face of the emerald ash borer, an insect pest devastating ash trees throughout North America.

In this feature video , Tyler shares how he wears many hats in the forestry world, his path to forestry, and the cultural connections he’s made in the process. He also outlines the adaptive management strategies he is researching and developing for brown ash and why someone should consider a career in forestry.

As Tyler says, “[Forestry] can be a really rewarding profession if you take the time to manage in a way that you would see your values fit.” Celebrating the work and accomplishments of young foresters like Tyler is an invaluable way of raising the voices of the next generation of Forest Stewards.

Written by Logan Johnson

Future stewards planting future forests

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

An ambitious project requires an ambitious crew to carry out the work. Fortunately, when researchers from New Mexico State University (NMSU) recruited the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) to plant over 8,000 trees as part of a landscape-scale reforestation research experiment this fall, they were able to overcome challenging conditions to get the job done.

If you’ve heard of reforestation efforts in the Southwest recently, it is likely that Owen Burney and the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center (FRC) played a role in those projects. In addition to their many research projects, the FRC is the largest forestry seedling producer in the Southwest and provides trees for reforestation efforts across the Southwest and Intermountain West. For landscapes that have experienced catastrophic fire that left few or no remaining trees to produce seed, planting site-adapted trees can facilitate the regeneration of forested lands. Growing and outplanting tree seedlings remains an under-utilized practice and further research is needed to determine what techniques, conditions, and methods produce the highest rates of survival and propagation.

This project pushed these crew members outside of their comfort zone. There were days of intense wind which resulted in sleepless nights, broken tents, and conditions that prohibited planting. When the wind died down, crews worked through the first major snowfall of the season in cold and wet conditions. Camping for ten days straight presents a lot of challenges, particularly for our crew members who had little or no previous camping experience. There were times when morale was low and there was uncertainty as to whether we could get the work done in time, but our crews leaned on each other for support and worked hard until the very last tree was planted.

Being stewards of the land sometimes means braving harsh conditions to protect and improve our forests. This experience not only provided new learning opportunities and skills development for our crew members but fostered a new type of relationship with the land: playing an active role in restoring a landscape that would otherwise be unable to naturally recover from disturbance. Some day these crew members may return to this site, maybe with their own children, and find a forest that they themselves helped grow.

Written by Liz Bailey

The Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) project is a large, multi-institution collaboration conducting research to examine restoration of Southwestern forests in the context of changes in forest structure and composition. One part of the project consists of three separate experiments each testing variables related to regeneration of post-wildfire forests. The variables tested in these three experiments include: size and density of applied nucleation (strategically planted “islands” that spread outward over time), vegetation treatments (full mechanical reduction, partial mechanical reduction, no reduction), container size, season of planting, and protection from herbivory (fencing and shelters). The results from this research will inform land managers on factors that influence regeneration of forests post-wildfire and the best methods for carrying out plantings.

This fall, in the first two weeks of October, six-month old ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) seedlings were planted in the burn scar of the Ute Park Fire (2018) on the Philmont Scout Ranch just outside of Cimmaron, New Mexico. Trees were planted in a grid within nucleation patterns of varying sizes and densities and each plant was sheltered to prevent herbivory. These plantings were completed by The Forest Stewards Guild’s three FSYC crews which operate out of the Jemez, Mountainair, and Espanola Forest Service Ranger Districts. Individuals on these crews are 18-25 years old with an interest in careers in forestry, fire, natural resources, ecology, or related fields.

Intern Aubrey Lanier describes his experience

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Whether it be in the public or private sector of forestry, I would like to continue working in a similar field that encompasses forest inventory. I also have a vested interest in fire management and would like to maintain my qualifications to participate in prescribed burn operations throughout my career. This internship has deepened my interest in forest inventory where my newfound skills can help me pursue different career paths in forestry including forest consulting, fire management, and wildlife management. The Forest Stewards Guild has granted me the opportunity to work with professionals in my field of interest and gain exceptional experience that will help me in whichever path I may follow after college.

Written by Aubrey Lanier. Editor’s note by Mike Lynch.

I am Aubrey Lanier, a senior in Forest Management at North Carolina State University. This summer I received an internship from the Forest Stewards Guild at Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. Refuge and Forest Stewards Guild staff contacted me promptly after I had applied and conducted a phone interview. During my interview I explained my previous experience in wildlife work, specifically bird banding and quail surveying, and how I would like to pursue more forestry oriented work while still being able to encompass aspects of wildlife management. The location of the internship in the Sandhills region of South Carolina was fitting as I have always had an interest in longleaf pine ecology. Returning to my home state to work for the summer was an intriguing opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.

As a Forest Stewards Guild intern, I have gained valuable work experience in the field of forestry. Throughout the summer, myself and two fellow interns participated in a range of activities including forest inventory, bird banding, quail call surveys, and tree felling. Cruising timber has taught me to look at the forest from a management perspective, focusing on improving wildlife habitat. I enjoyed working in this area as the longleaf pine savannas are a diminished but highly important ecosystem of the sandhills region in the southeast. Bird banding and quail call surveys offered a glimpse into the end goal of forest management on the refuge. The refuge is home to popular game birds such as the mourning dove and bobwhite quail, and threatened species including the red cockaded woodpecker. Periodic forest inventory and analysis helps refuge staff make management decisions to improve habitat for these birds as well as other wildlife species including white-tailed deer and wild turkey. Near the end of my internship, we were able to complete a beginner level chainsaw course where we were taught how to safely fell and buck trees. This fall, I will be returning to school for my senior year with valuable skills and knowledge that will be beneficial for my future career in forest management.

Coulter Nyenhuis and Aubrey Lanier were selected from a strong pool of applicants for these positions and both interns did a wonderful job. Coulter’s feature article was in September’s e-newsletter, so look back if you missed it! We wish them both all the best as they complete their education and enter the work force.

We will be offering this 12-week summer internship again in 2022. Be on the lookout for a posting next spring at http://foreststewardsguild.org . Pease also check this page for other opportunities with the Guild and our terrific partners. If you would like to help recruit well-deserving and potentially interested students, or if you would like to apply yourself and have questions, please contact Mike Lynch at mike@forestguild.org or 608-449-0647.

Welcome Fallon Grafe to the Guild team!

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Fallon Grafe is our new Business Manager. She is new to the Guild but her interest in forest management goes far back. She brings a unique perspective to FSG with her background in the local (New Mexico) timber industry. She is originally from Santa Fe, NM and grew up in and worked for many years at a family-owned custom timber company that specializes in custom products using New Mexico timber.

Here’s more, from Fallon:

I did everything I could from operations and sales to running heavy equipment and helping clients design their projects. As my career progressed, I found that my interest in forest management had grown. Finding my place at the Guild has inspired me to learn more and expand my knowledge beyond New Mexico.

As the Executive Director, I can say I’m thrilled to have Fallon on board. The Guild has grown and our work has gotten more complex. We have numerous projects, events, and networks running across the country and having Fallon to ensure we’re working from a solid operational foundation will help us expand our positive impact – Zander

Written by Fallon Grafe and Zander Evans

I earned an undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and MBA from the University of New Mexico. When not working, I am most happy spending time with my husband, two daughters and a large extended family. I also love sewing projects, learning new mountain biking skills, running, and remodeling my house. I’ll be working out of the Southwest office in Santa Fe and hope to put my expertise in small business management and perspective on forest management to good use there. My goal is for my work to go unnoticed. I feel that success is partly measured in how smoothly I can make the administrative side of the organization run so that everyone else can spend more time doing their projects and following the vision of the organization. Also, I’m looking forward to getting out into the field occasionally to get my hands on those projects too.

Member insights building the Guild’s collective wisdom

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson

Recently, we intentionally touched base with members through a Guild member survey. Thank you to everyone who shared thoughts, ideas, and offers to contribute. The survey responses are rich, informative, engaging, and we are so grateful. One of our Guild principals is about remaining humble. We want you to know that we hear you, we learn from you, and we all have an amazing community where we can keep asking our questions and making a difference. Collaboration and community remain strong in the Guild. A snapshot of the wealth of responses follows, and we hope you find it interesting and encouraging.

Our top goals for the survey were to:

Find out if what we offer and how we offer it to members is desirable and helpful.
Explore what is missing, from our members’ perspectives, regarding the experience of membership in the Guild or the work the Guild does.
Prioritize next steps with input from members on what is most important.
Recruit support and assistance for getting more good work done collaboratively within this community, in win-win scenarios.

What we learned…

Our survey respondents:

The Survey went out to all members and was completed by 144 respondents, 78% of whom were professional members. 29 states and every region were represented. Most respondents were mid to late career and respondents were evenly distributed among membership age classes

Not surprisingly, in our unique and learning community, when asked about the top three most valuable things about the Guild, 81 percent of respondents said, “Being part of an organization that shares my values.” Over 70% of respondents indicated the next two important values were “Connection to like-minded stewards” and “Learning opportunities” (see chart below).

Meeting Member’s Needs 
We asked about the top four ways the Guild can serve members better. Respondents focused on regional in-person events (71%), technical trainings (44%), information resources (39%), online events (37%), and efforts to increase diversity in forestry and conservation (32%). It is worth noting that national meetings were only in the top four things we can do to serve members better for 16% of respondents and policy for 29% of respondents.

Communicating with Members
In general respondents felt our e-newsletter (86%, monthly) and magazine (73%, twice per year) are sent at a good frequency. Most respondents had no opinion about social media posts.

Most respondents were interested in quarterly (26%) or semi-annual (37%) regional conference calls. Similarly, most respondents were interested in monthly (36%) or quarterly (46%) webinars and annual (30%) or semi-annual (49%) in-person field events. Interest in attending meetings is inspired by the agenda and content (79%) followed by distance (62%) and relevance to day-to-day work (42%).

Stewardship topics 
When asked what are the top four most pressing stewardship topics that you would like to learn more about, discuss, and work on, respondents focused primarily on climate smart forestry (75%) followed by perceptions of forestry in the general public (52%), carbon forestry (50%), invasive species response (41%) and building a diverse and inclusive stewardship community (40%).

What’s next?

Again, this is just a snapshot of what you shared. We received many thoughtful free-form comments and great ideas that we are considering along with the quantitative results. We also feel that answers in the minority hold great value, even though we didn’t report them in this summary. And although we don’t encourage “silos” in our work, we are paying attention to any regional nuance we find in the survey patterns of responses. We intend to continue learning and sharing from your responses as we go. Together, we will continue to expand our view, our perspectives, and our positive impact as we cultivate our best work in putting the forests first.

Already, Guild staff are busy connecting with members who want to and can help now, to improve our strategies and address the needs and topics you help us identify or confirm. Examples include planning for more opportunities to gather in each region, expanding active student involvement at the organizational level, and exploring how we can more effectively support a healthier future for forests not just directly, but through the impact of our stories and demonstrations. Our members’ abundant offers to help will make all of this more possible.

Thank you for all you do, and stay tuned!

2021 FSYC summer program wraps up

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Miguel Olivas

The Forest Steward Youth Corps (FSYC) summer program provides many opportunities for New Mexico youth ages 16-25. The Forest Stewards Guild engages in education, training, policy analysis, research, and advocacy to foster excellence in stewardship/proper forest management. The FSYC invests in the next generation of forest stewards by providing training and experience to youth. The FSYC program provides crew members with ample amount of training in a variety of subjects such as Leave no Trace, CPR and first aid, species identification, trail maintenance, various types of forest monitoring, etc.

The 2021 Summer Program consisted of five crews spanning across northern New Mexico. FSYC crews are partnered with some of the US Forest Service districts (Las Vegas/Pecos, Coyote, Mountainair, and Mt. Taylor) as well as the natural resources department of Jemez Pueblo. In 2021 the program employed twenty-four individuals. We had five crew leaders and nineteen crew members.

The crew based out of the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger district focused primarily on invasive species removal and fence installation. This crew completed 227 acres worth of invasive species removal (bull, musk, and Scotch thistle) over the course of nine weeks. In addition to 1.8 miles of newly constructed fence the Pecos/Las Vegas crew also had the opportunity to build a one-acre perimeter fence around an endangered species (Holy-Ghost Ipomopsis).

The crew based out of the Coyote district had a variety of projects including fencing, timber marking, habitat management (trick tank maintenance/ installation), trail maintenance, and sign implementation. The Coyote crew posted an astounding 60 informational signs and 4 kiosks near the Rio Chama, and 4.68 miles of newly installed fence.

The Mt. Taylor FSYC crew worked primarily on timber marking and fence repair. The crew gained valuable knowledge on how to timber mark for a specific prescription and identify tree defects such as mistletoe. The Mt. Taylor crew completed 80 acres of timber marking in the Zuni mountain range, and 8 miles worth of fence repair.

The Mountainair summer crew worked mostly removing and replacing fences as well as some trail building and maintenance. The crew cut corridor for trail and put in tread. Mountainair summer crew finished 7 miles of trail in the Manzano mountains. Mountainair’s Fourth of July fire effects float was featured in the Independence Day parade in Mountainair!

The Jemez Pueblo FSYC crew worked mostly removing invasive species (Russian olive and salt cedar) and a fence project. The crew followed saw teams treating Russian olive and salt cedar stumps with herbicide, clearing 10 acres of cottonwood understory of these species. The Jemez FSYC also completed a fence clearing/installation that was approximately 3,000 feet long.

15 of the 24 members will be going back to high school or college in the fall, 4 members will stay on with FSYC through the fall fire and fuels program. One summer FSYC member is staying on this fall working part-time in the Guild office and building professional skills through the Forest Stewards Mentorship Program.

Editor’s note: During the summer FSYC program, general safety and COVID safety were paramount. Program staff reviewed state mandates, local conditions and case counts weekly, and COVID protocols were put in place accordingly and observed by crews. When conditions allowed, crews were permitted to work without masks while outdoors.

Intern Coulter shares what he learned

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Coulter Nyenhuis. Editor’s note by Mike Lynch.

The Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge (CSNWR) is a 46,000 acre refuge that manages for the long leaf pine ecosystem. The long leaf pine woodlands have been reduced to two percent of the original area prior to European settlement due to land fragmentation, agroforestry, and farming. The long leaf pine is a slow growing, resilient keystone species in this fire maintained ecosystem. The long leaf pine’s resistance to fire comes from its long needles that protect the seedlings’ and saplings’ terminal bud, ultimately enabling the young trees to take advantage of the abundance of resources after fire. The thick bark on the mature trees provides resistance to low intensity fires which ultimately provides an open seedbank for the cones. With regular disturbances this ecosystem can exist in perpetuity. Without fire, the turkey oaks and sweetgum will take over the mid-story and shade out the grasses and legumes. This will provide fuel for hotter fires, ultimately leading to stand replacing fires. The management that occurs on the CSNWR helps to preserve this diverse ecosystem for the plants and wildlife that depend on it.

The highlight of my opportunity at the CSNWR was being able to develop my masters project in conjunction with my summer internship. The refuge has developed a 1,200 acre bobwhite quail focal area within the refuge. In order to promote ideal quail habitat, the over story should be thinned to a basal area of 30 square feet per acre, and prescribed fire intervals should be shortened to prevent undesired hardwoods from taking over the understory. Providing additional disking to openings and fields will promote legumes and grasses needed for quail brooding cover. Within the quail focal area there is a stand that has not had any recent disturbance. We were able to conduct and inventory of the stand and start to develop management goals. Additionally, we were able to walk through the stand with some of the South Carolina State quail biologists. This meeting was extremely productive, and helped to shape our management goals as well as develop a prescription for the stand.

Editor’s note: The Forest Stewards Guild has partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the last several years to provide students with hands-on experiences to learn how forestry and wildlife management work together on public lands. These 12-week positions are hired by the Guild and supervised and based at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in McBee, South Carolina.

Coulter Nyenhuis and Aubrey Lanier were selected from a strong pool of applicants for these positions and both interns did a wonderful job. We are featuring articles written by each of them. Check back next month for Aubrey’s article. We wish them both all the best as they complete their education and enter the work force.

We will be offering this 12-week summer internship again in 2022. Be on the lookout for a posting next spring at http://foreststewardsguild.org . Pease also check this page for other opportunities with the Guild and our terrific partners. If you would like to help recruit well-deserving and potentially interested students, or if you would like to apply yourself and have questions, please contact Mike Lynch at mike@forestguild.org or 608-449-0647.

I’m currently a Masters of Forestry student at Northern Arizona University. I have been lucky to travel all across the United States. This has helped me to appreciate the public lands that provide multi-use opportunities on an array of diverse landscapes. I have always had a passion for conservation and how it ties in with forest management and timber production. To many, managing for pulpwood and saw logs may seem separate from ecosystem management. However, as most Guild e-newsletter readers know, many landscapes benefit from disturbance created by logging operations, and the removal of over story trees that will promote regeneration of desired forbs and grasses. Additionally, conducting prescribed burns after harvesting operations, ensure natural processes occur while promoting growth of desired tree species.

Our main task during the internship was to conduct a 5% inventory of approximately 2,300 acres within the refuge. This inventory included a variable plot sample of merchantable trees, as well as stand metrics to help drive management decisions in the future. Additionally, we were able to support the wildlife biologist on the refuge by conducting dove banding and recording cavity trees that house the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. This helps biologists to gauge populations and distributions.

As a bird dog lover and a diehard upland bird hunter, I was excited to get the opportunity to work on this project and learn from the biologists and foresters that have been shaping this landscape.

A Guild Gathering to celebrate a quarter-century

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Atop a knoll overlooking a ribbon valley and mountains in the distance, we gathered at the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Community Farm. This 140-acre community farm hosts incubator farms, environmentally-friendly land management, and an education center, all surrounded by forested hills that were newly-revealed to us each morning as dense fog lifted leisurely out of the valley. Oaks wise in their tenure here, stand tall and inspiring around the education center. All of this welcomed us as we gathered to teach, learn, acquaint ourselves, and celebrate a common vision that spans across the country through members and partners of the Forest Stewards Guild. We began with our tradition of Guild introduction circles, to learn more about how each of us came to value this common vision.

“Human knowledge of forest ecosystems is limited. Responsible management that sustains the forest requires a humble approach and continuous learning. ” Though we also have a duty to compassionately challenge each other. To reach through what we know to be true and glimpse what else might be possible. To remind each other as we get swept up by life and logistics and critique, of the foundation from which we come to this work. For 26 years, Guild Gatherings have provided a safe and welcoming place to do this, among a community of people who each in their own ways are contributing to something so much greater than ourselves, as stated in the Guild’s sixth principle: “ Our first duty is to forests and their future. When confronted with circumstances that threaten the integrity of the forest and conflict with the Mission and Principles of the Forest Stewards Guild, members must respond through education, advocacy, or where necessary, disassociation. Guild membership signifies a commitment to the highest forest stewardship ethic. ”

These principals are alive and well in our Guild community. It feels right to celebrate that. Our 26th Anniversary celebration was a reflection on so much we’ve accomplished in the past and an inspiration for the future of our effort, our communities, and the forests. Thank you to all who participated in this event, in person and in spirit. Visit our 25th Anniversary webpage to view PDFs from presentations given at the event, read quotes, and enjoy photos as we can get them posted.

Written by Colleen Robinson

A happy 26th birthday indeed , as 45 people joined together representing every Guild region. We heard presentations that looked back on our forestry history. In the case of Femelshlag, it was particularly interesting to highlight the aspects of practices that are still valid today and helpful for supporting our forests, while at the same time discussing very different motivations for such practices over time. Some of these motivations are human-focused and some are not. According to the Guild, they are all worth considering for their role in site specific forestry prescriptions, as we honor the Guild’s third principle: “The forest has value in its own right, independent of human intentions and needs.”

Presentations on each day were followed by field tours. Common to every Guild Gathering, we were there to hear the data, peruse the science, and observe in the forest. The Guild’s fifth principal: “The practice of forestry must be grounded in field observation and experience as well as in the biological sciences. This practical knowledge should be developed and shared with both traditional and non-traditional educational institutions and programs” was modeled through presentations by The Nature Conservancy and University of the South Sewanee, who are working to observe, study, practice, and disseminate knowledge for and from forests in the south. We explored the links between forest health and the health of entire ecosystems depending on those healthy forests, through field sites focused on bird-habitat, soil health and stability, and water resources. When considering all of this, we celebrate the Guild’s first principle:

“ The well-being of human society is dependent on responsible forest management that places the highest priority on the maintenance and enhancement of the entire forest ecosystem. ” When presenting on Coastal Plain Longleaf Management and sharing information on Remnant Old Growth Longleaf Pine Savannas and Forests, we were called to attend to the Guild’s second principle: “The natural forest provides a model for sustainable resource management; therefore, responsible forest management imitates nature’s dynamic processes and minimizes impacts when harvesting trees and other products.” A highlight for some on the last day of the event was a “bucket list” visit to the Cradle of Forestry, where Bob Beanblossom brought the past to life before our eyes through skilled storytelling and a glimpse back in time to the nation’s first forestry school founded in 1898.

Perhaps the most valuable of all the time we spent together in Asheville was unstructured, and focused on networking and community building. We all arrived with a wealth of knowledge. Multiple perspectives and region-specific backgrounds were represented among us. Collectively, we probably held hundreds of questions in our minds and hearts, about the practicality, feasibility, ethics, and temporal relevance of ideas and practices on the landscape. A Guild Gathering naturally nurtures and evolves conversation around these questions, though the community knowledge at hand. In no other place, at no other time, would the same inquiries or brainstorms or research references or collaborations occur just as they did here in this mist-layered valley in late August 2021. Staying open and engaged in these opportunities is one of our most important duties, as we celebrate Guild’s fourth principal:

Welcome Shawn Swartz to the Southeast Region staff!

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Shawn Swartz is a long-time Guild member whose career has grown right alongside our Guild community. We are thrilled to welcome him as our Southeast Region Manager. If you don’t yet know Shawn, this brief background offers a hint of his dedication and enthusiasm for forestry that follows Guild principles.

Shawn is a registered forester in NC, an SAF Certified Forester, and an ISA certified Arborist. His AAS in Forest Management is from Haywood Community College and Bachelor of Science and MNR in Natural Resource Management from Oregon State University. He said he feels at home working for the Forest Guild because his approach to forest management involves silvicultural methods that mimic historical disturbance regimes and natural ranges of variability. Professionally, his interests include the restoration of forest species including American chestnut, longleaf and shortleaf pine, and eastern hemlock; non-timber forest products such as American ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, tree syrups, and woodland mushrooms; and woody perennial crops such as American hazelnut and pawpaw. When not working, he enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, playing guitar, and riding his motorcycle.

Shawn’s field experience and deep roots in the Appalachian forestry community are an asset to our work in the region. Shawn is well-positioned to grow the Guild’s work in advancing forest stewardship in the Southeast.

Shawn will be working with Dakota, Southeast Coordinator, on a range of projects and membership support. With support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), Shawn will be advancing conservation practices for bottomland hardwood forests in both the coastal Carolinas and the Lower Mississippi. Another central project for Shawn is shortleaf pine ecosystem restoration and management in the Cumberland Plateau. In addition, he’ll be working on meetings and events in the Southeast such as the upcoming West Virginia workshop focused on mesophytic cove forest management.

Written by Shawn, Amanda, Colleen, Zander

Guild members gather on Guild land

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Our first Guild Gathering in more than a year was graced with beautiful weather and great company amid Michigan’s stunning Upper Peninsula in early August 2021.

There is a lot to celebrate with this event, including coming together with the budding Michigan Foresters for the Birds Program, and our partners at Michigan Tech University and the American Bird Conservancy. The biggest gift by far was that all of us were able to walk on Guild-owned land (the only Guild-owned land in the country) and discuss the history of management there, observe the beauty, opportunities, and challenges present in the parcels today, and thoughtfully share ideas for future management.

Thinking about future management on these three Guild parcels that total more than 400 wooded acres requires us to keep in mind the soils, wildlife (including birds), climate impacts, forest products opportunities, and so much more. Like on any responsibly and sustainably managed forest land we pondered all of this and more as we took care to notice what the land was telling us.

Guild Gatherings are all about coming together and sharing ideas, expertise, and concerns in a safe space where there are no “stupid” questions or well-defined “teachers” and “students.” As we gear up for our 2021 Forest Steward magazine theme of “Learning Together,” this Lake States gathering embodied the experience full-on. Attendees were super engaged, thoughtful, willing to consider new ideas – and offer them up too! That’s what I love the most about Guild Gatherings and I can’t thank this group enough for their participation and presence during tours on these Guild acres.

A little about the parcels we visited: The Guild owns seven parcels of land in Houghton County Michigan totaling 410 acres. The parcels were gifted to the Guild in 2016 from the estate of Fred Prince and his organization Forest for the Future. Guild staff worked with an intern from Michigan Tech University (Russel Lipe) and a local forestry consulting company Green Timber to develop a management plan in 2017 and enrolled in The Nature Conservancy’s Forest Stewardship Council Group Certificate in 2018along with Michigan’s Commercial Forest Program. These parcels havealso been incorporated into the Guild Model Forest Program with a focus on demonstrating ecological forestry on small ownerships – all parcels are less than 80 acres and spread across a large area. No harvesting has occurred on the properties since the Guild took ownership, but several of the parcels are scheduledfor treatment in the next few years and the Lake States Guild Gathering offered a great opportunity to discuss these goals, objectives, and strategies at three of the parcels.

Written by Colleen Robinson and Michael Lynch

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Michigan!

Landowner Assistance in Post-Fire Natural Resource Recovery: Lessons Learned from Oregon

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Submitted by Kristen Purdy, Sustainable Northwest and Maura Olivos

The 2020 wildfire season was unprecedented in Oregon. Communities are still in crisis, working to rebuild homes and meet basic needs. An estimated 797,000 acres of forestland burned in Oregon during the Labor Day fires of 2020. Of that land, roughly 119,000 acres were privately owned. As a result, there’s been a strain on current resources available to small non-industrial landowners when it comes to post-fire natural resource recovery. The Western Oregon Cascades Recovery Effort (WOCRE) formed to meet the urgent need for scaling forest recovery due to the 2020 wildfires. WOCRE is convening organizations who work directly with landowners to share resources and lessons learned and build resilience across Western Oregon. As we gathered to work on 2020 recovery, all while right in the middle of the 2021 Fire Season, we wanted to share lessons learned on post-fire natural resource recovery for landowners in hopes this might help other communities be more prepared.

The following advice has been shared with us from Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB). EWEB has been working hard on post-fire restoration to protect streams feeding into Eugene’s drinking water supply from the McKenzie River. Eugene and the surrounding areas were impacted by the Holiday Farm Fire, covering 173,393 acres and impacting the McKenzie River Valley ( After the Fire, 2021 ). Based on their experience with the 2020 Fires, Karl Morgenstern and Nancy Toth from EWEB shared the following recommendations.

Before the Fire…

Determine all the moving pieces in access agreements for landowners and try to streamline the process to one agreement (from EWEB) :

A huge role we’re playing is contacting landowners impacted by the 2020 fires, providing information on services and assistance that we can provide and requesting access agreements, which legally enables us to survey land and help landowners access the resources they need for natural resource recovery. It is critical to keep in mind that landowners have just gone through (and are still going through) a traumatic time. Following the fires, several different agencies were contacting landowners and requesting access to their property for various reasons. Landowners were often confused as to which agency was doing what, and about the different agreements they were being asked to sign. It is important to understand the role each agency plays in post-fire response and be able to communicate this to landowners.

Being aware about the various access agreements someone might be exposed to (for example, counties may have their own requirements for access agreements) is crucial. To get ahead of this before the fires, take the time to set up an access agreement that fulfills the regulatory requirements for other local and state agencies working on recovery, and includes a variety of potential land management actions that landowners can choose by checking boxes within the agreement. Make sure you coordinate with other entities and agencies in the effort to develop a universal access agreement. We created an access agreement using DocuSign that worked for the project partners we were working with under our Pure Water Partners Program. Landowners found this easy to sign because it had all requirements in one access agreement, and the access agreement was mobile-friendly for those who did not have access to computers.

In addition to streamlining the agreement process, we recommend providing landowners with a single, consistent point of contact for the variety of tasks associated with recovery. It’s great if just one person works directly with a landowner, surveying their property, providing technical assistance, and connecting them with multiple resources.

Understand the FEMA process and triple-check to make sure you have authority (from EWEB) :

In addition to streamlining access agreements, we learned the hard way that you need to triple-check to make sure you have the authority, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to do the work you’re doing. We ran into issues with trying to get reimbursements from FEMA. To avoid problems during post-fire recovery, before the fires, make sure you are aware of the FEMA approval process and understand what is required from landowners. One way to make sure you’re on track with FEMA is to contact your state’s Office of Emergency Management early on in the event, as they can help connect you to relevant contacts within FEMA, as well as the broad variety of federal agencies that will come to work within the FEMA structure.

Be actively involved in emergency preparedness and create standing contracts (from EWEB) :

Being active in emergency preparedness–whether on a community-based management, whether it be on a community level, a local level, or on the state level–can open doors to access emergency funds. Because EWEB had a network of partners in place who already started working with landlords on other restoration activities prior to the fires, we were able to quickly approve $1 million in emergency funds, which helped kickstart the work of other programs. A huge, huge help is having standing contracts in place to do the work an emergency entails before the emergency hits. Now, we have rolling contracts.

After the Fire…

Make outreach materials and resources widely available (from EWEB) :

We learned it’s crucial to be flexible with the outreach methods used. We used flyers, mail, and social media to share resources with community members impacted by wildfire. People were missing their phones and computers, having to leave them behind as they fled the fast-moving fires. Property damage and inaccessible roads made it difficult to get information out through mail. As a result, we identified key community centers that were being mobilized during the wildfires and during post-fire recovery, and printed out flyers for outreach staff to distribute.

In Clackamas Co., Oregon, the Clackamas River Basin Council (CRBC) has been busy working on post-fire restoration projects. Clackamas County was impacted heavily during the Labor Day fires of 2020, including the Lionshead, Beachie Creek, and Riverside fires. Collectively, these fires burned over 500,000 acres ( After the Fire, 2021 ). The CRBC has been working hard on post-fire restoration within the Clackamas Basin, and Ari Sindel from the Council had the following recommendation to share.

Riverside Fire Damage from Above / By Inciweb

Cast a wide net for resources to fit community needs (From CRBC) :

It’s important to look for diverse funding opportunities, because each program and grant we identified carried restrictions. We applied for a wildfire assistance grant through the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), which secured funding for 2020 wildfire response. These grants were available to support recovery from 13 of the fires that affected our state. Fire incidents eligible for recovery funding were chosen with the assistance of public comment. In our basin, the largest fire of the 2020 season was the Riverside Fire, which was chosen for eligibility. With the emergency funds, we were able to make a huge difference for our community by providing assistance to private landowners who were not eligible for other programs. However, several private landowners impacted by the much smaller Dowty Road Fire, who were also ineligible for other programs, reached out to us for help. The Dowty Road Fire did a lot of damage to important natural areas, but the OWEB funding was not applicable. With creativity and gumption, we were able to help nearly all of the landowners who reached out to us. We continue to provide assistance, and each of the funding sources and recovery programs that we have identified have been a component of that effort.

Moving Forward

One of the most crucial things WOCRE members suggested was that now , in the middle of fire season, is the best time to start writing down the things you wish you’d done for the next fire season. WOCRE will continue to work on 2020 wildfire recovery. Please feel free to share your lessons learned and stay safe, communicative and aware out there. For more information on WOCRE contact Kristen Purdy at kpurdy@sustainablenorthwest.org .

Resources for Landowners in Oregon:

Willamette Partnership’s Wildfire Recovery Page

Oregon State’s After the Fire

Oregon Emergency Management Wildfire Recovery Page

Burned Area Learning Network – Notes from the Field

Reducing the number of human-caused wildfires

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Fire is an essential natural process for many forests across the country. From longleaf pine forests in Florida to ponderosa pine forests in Washington, fire promotes health and resilience in many ecosystems. The Guild’s new policy statement on Fire, Forest Management, and Communities (currently under consideration by the professional members) emphasizes the importance of returning good fire to our forests through tools like prescribed burning.

At the same time, each summer we are reminded of the dangers posed by large, high-severity wildfires that claim lives, destroy structures and communities, disrupt ecosystems, and negatively impact economies. Many of these uncharacteristic wildfires are started by people accidentally. Even after over 75 years of Smokey Bear telling people to put out our campfires, humans are still causing over 90% of wildfires. In fact, 97% of fires that threaten homes in the wildland-urban interface are human caused (Mietkiewicz et al. 2020 https://doi.org/10.3390/fire3030050 ).

The Guild has been working for five years with partners including the US Forest Service, Northern Arizona University, and the Forest Trust to better understand how we can reduce human-caused wildfires. In 2018, we released a report, Increasing Wildfire Awareness and Reducing Human-Caused Ignitions , which highlights three key elements of the problem using Northern New Mexico as a focal area:

Preventable human ignitions cause a disproportionate number of dangerous wildfires.
Investments in wildfire prevention programs are much smaller than they should be given their importance and effectiveness.
Public education campaigns to prevent wildfires are not well studied and there are likely significant opportunities for improvement.

The Guild’s work on reducing human-caused wildfires dovetails well with our efforts to foster Fire Adapted Communities and promote prescribed fire. Reducing the number of wildfires that put communities at risk makes the job of building resilience to wildfires easier. Returning good fire to the forest is easier when resources and attention are not pulled away to focus on dangerous, accidental ignitions. Reducing human-caused wildfires is part of the solution to safer communities and healthy forest ecosystems.

Written by Gabe Kohler and Zander Evans

In 2021, a new Guild report, Investing in Wildfire Prevention , delved deeper into how federal prevention budgets are invested. The report recommends greater information sharing and transparency about the challenges that wildfire prevention programs face. Creating and sharing actionable prevention plans based on priority areas, as some National Forests are already doing, is a sensible starting point for advancing wildfire prevention. The report identifies other opportunities to increase prevention effectiveness, including: education of urban forest-users about forest restrictions and closures, outreach to non-forest-users during fire season, and transferring knowledge from one fire prevention technician to another by overlapping personnel and tracking district-level accomplishments. Later this year, the Guild will start a new, larger research effort under the leadership of Dr. Catrin Edgeley at Northern Arizona University that will answer some of the questions raised by our past reports.

A Virtual “Learn and Burn” Experience for Landowners

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Fire is an important part of the natural environment in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Native American communities and early settlers utilized fire in their daily lives to promote conditions suitable for hunting and foraging, and to reduce pest populations such as ticks. This use of fire shaped the landscape, and many of the forests in North Carolina today still require fire to remain healthy.

However, fire suppression that began in the early 1900s has led to changes in forest composition. Fire-adapted species that need fire to thrive were, and currently are, being pushed out by non-fire adapted species, in some cases decreasing the species richness and diversity of the forest. Large strides have been made to bring fire back onto the landscape in the mountains of North Carolina and restore these spectacular ecosystems.

In the spring 2021 burn season, prescribed fire operations reached record highs due to personnel availability and ideal weather conditions. In fact, The Nature Conservancy’s as-needed Southern Blue Ridge Burn Crew assisted or led the implementation of 42 prescribed burns across more than 18,000 acres in the mountains of North Carolina, a record-breaking year! Most of these burns were on public land. To continue making significant strides in forest restoration, practitioners throughout the region want to see more burning on privately owned lands. Why? Forestland ownership in North Carolina is dominated by nonindustrial private landowners, who own a staggering 80 percent of the total forested acreage of the state.

This brings us to our main event, “ Learning About Burning: An Introduction to Prescribed Fire for NC Landowners .” With support from the Fire Learning Network, the Forest Stewards Guild collaborated with NC Forest Service, Mountain Valleys RC&D Council, and NC Wildlife Resources Commission to produce a virtual experience based at DuPont State Recreational Forest near Brevard, North Carolina. In this video, questions such as “What is the difference between a prescribed burn and a wildfire?”, “Why should we burn?”, and “Can I burn my own property, and if so, what do I need to do that safely?” are answered by a variety of experts during a live burn.

This virtual experience is one of the many steppingstones that landowners can take to learn about burning to reach their forest restoration goals. Practitioners and other landowner outreach agents can use this video when communicating with both landowners and the public about the basics of prescribed fire in the mountains of North Carolina.

Want to take the next step and learn more?

Written by Dakota Wagner

Family forest landowners often have forest ownership goals that include maintaining and enhancing the forest in a natural, healthy way. To meet those goals in certain forests in the mountains of North Carolina, fire is necessary. That being said, there are many landowners today who may not be familiar with the benefits of prescribed fire, nor may they have the tools to implement these practices on their properties.

Following the young life path of an interest in Environmental Science

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Ralph Green, Pace University

Background and introduction to the Guild community

When I reflect on my childhood, it only made sense that I would build a professional career in the field of environmental science. I refer to the field of environmental science broadly, because I’m still learning a lot about myself and what I want to do, though I have somewhat narrowed it down. When one says they’re from New Jersey I’d assume others begin to think about the Jersey Shore, expanses of urbanized towns and cities, and traffic on the Garden State Parkway. That’s not the case with the northwestern portion of the state, which is where I call home and the place that played an enormous part in my journey into the field. From a young age most of my free time was spent either in recreational sports or, more often, in the woods with my father. This was especially true during deer season when I was a spectator for many years, until I reached the state’s legal hunting ageThose countless hours spent in the forest, either sitting in a tree stand or on the ground against the base of one, lit the spark for my passion in forest ecology and conservation, as well as wildlife conservation and management. I found the most peace in my life sitting there just appreciating all of the natural world.

As I grew older, education and athletics started taking away from hunting time, and I didn’t begin to adventure and long-distance hike until college.. I took a junior-year elective class in high school, Environmental Science & Ecology, right around the time guidance counselors began pushing college choices. That’s how I decided upon Environmental Studies at Pace University as an undergraduate, and I graduated in 2019. I did have to do a capstone: White-tailed deer herbivory and the probability of seedling survival: a field study on how deer browsing impacts forest regeneration. It centered around monitoring deer browse at two separate locations in Westchester and Dutchess counties in New York, experiencing higher and lower deer densities. To do so, I planted over 200 red oak seedlings in different cluster densities to see how this and the accompanying deer densities impacted their survival. I was left wanting more after that project and after working some seasonal jobs in the field, so immediately after graduating I enrolled in the Master of Environmental Science program at Pace University.

Looking forward

I’m very interested in forest ecology and conservation, as well as wildlife conservation and management. I would like to advance my career and work within those topics, but I have always remained open to new things and am a true student – always willing to learn. I currently work for the Mohonk Preserve in Gardiner, NY as a Forest Vegetation Technician. I believe it will be a great step for me, as I love to collect data and conduct research centered around forest health. I would like to continue pursuing the field of deer management because it is very relevant as we continue to develop and take away from our wild areas.

Editor’s note: Ralph will be presenting his research at the following virtual conferences this year. I’m sure he’d be honored to have attendance and feedback from Guild members.

June 28: Black Rock Hudson Highlands Research Symposium, presentation time TBD
August 5: The Ecological Society of America’s Annual Conference, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. PT
October 5 – 8: Student Conference on Conservation Science-New York, time TBD
November 3: The Wildlife Society’s Annual Conference, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET

This is where I really came into my own in the field and knew it was right where I wanted to be. Working with my current mentor, I am wrapping up my graduate thesis: White-tailed Deer Harvest Success and its Impact on Forest Understory Vegetation: Evaluating Management Program Efficacy in Southeastern New York. Being as ambitious as I am, this is where I took the next step and wanted to evaluate regional deer management and its impact on the forest. Deer abundance and management have always been intriguing topics to me, but I also really wanted to know what impacts it was having on our forests. Numerous strategies are employed by land managers throughout the Hudson Valley region of New York to manage deer via lethal means. This study aims to better understand the effectiveness of different white-tailed deer removal programs (i.e., culling, archery, and firearms seasons) compared to no management in improving forest understory conditions across seven nature preserves in the Hudson Valley. To do so, I compiled historical harvests, density estimates, and vegetation data, as well as collecting supplemental data, and then curated it all into a uniform format for analysis since methods varied by site. I plan on finishing this project and defending it by the end of this summer, as well as presenting it to a handful of conferences later this year (see below for details).

I would also like to know what other factors are impacting our forest and their regeneration. Invasions of pests and invasive species have been on my radar for some time and I would love to learn more on the topic and perhaps work on mitigating their impacts. As a Forest Stewards Guild member, I’m wondering what everyone else’s opinion is on the matter in this community? What really is the greatest threat to our forests? Discussing this with other members is one thing I’d get the most out of by being a Guild member. I’ve always wanted to make a difference no matter how big or small. I know that we are not given much time in this life, but giving future generations the same opportunity to fall in love with the forest like I have would be enough for me.

Welcoming three new staff members to the Guild’s Southwest Office!

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Liz, Rachel, and Miguel hail from different parts of the country but have roots in and love for the culture and ecology of the Southwest. It was their collective interest in responsible forestry which drew them to the Guild’s vision and presence in New Mexico.

Miguel is serving as Field Coordinator for the Forest Stewards Youth Corps. He is passionate about landscape restoration and fire ecology. He has lived and worked in the Southwest for years and was drawn to the forest stewardship of his community of Mora, and that aspect of his position more broadly. At the Guild, Miguel will be assisting with FSYC logistics, assisting youth crew supervisors with logistical, emotional, and inter-crew related needs, and serving as a primary contact for Forest Service/YCC Partners. This work builds off his experience leading youth corps in different capacities including prescribed fire, chainsaw use, and forest stand monitoring.

Liz and Rachel are both serving as Southwest Project Coordinators. Liz is passionate about restoration ecology and native plant communities. She was drawn to the diverse and valuable forests of the Southwest after working in the Mojave Desert and Sagebrush-Steppe and is looking forward to working in an ecosystem with a little more shade. At the Guild, Liz will be assisting with the planning and monitoring of CFLRP and CFRP projects, contributing to the Fire Adapted New Mexico program including the Wildfire Wednesday blog, working with the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, assisting with Women Owning Woodlands, and expanding the Guild’s involvement in reforestation activities.

Rachel is passionate about adaptive ecosystem management, place-based science, and knowledge dissemination. She was drawn back to the resilient and fragile landscapes of the Southwest after working in forest thinning in the Pacific Northwest. At the Guild, Rachel will be assisting with the planning and monitoring of CFLRP and CFRP projects, contributing to the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition, enabling knowledge-sharing networks on post-fire resiliency and managed wildfire, publishing informational material for the public on upcoming and current forest management projects, and assisting private landowners manage their properties as a continuum of the surrounding landscape.

All three staff members are excited to get involved with their community and important local issues, with the Guild’s mission of education, training, research, and advocacy, and with the innovative and collaborative land management projects taking place across the Southwest.

Guild Members Complete Service Project at the Holt Research Forest

Tue, 25 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Logan Johnson, Northeast Region Coordinator

On May 15, members of the Forest Stewards Guild joined a joint service project and Guild Gathering at the Holt Research Forest in Arrowsic, Maine. The group’s task was to reestablish a research grid in the nearly 100-acre study area in the forest.

The Holt Research Forest is a 350-acre research forest owned by the Maine Timber Research & Environmental Education Foundation (Main TREE). The research project, supported by the University of Maine, started in 1983. Ever since, continuous data collection has occurred, including a 100-percent inventory of over 30,000 trees in the study area. A timber harvest in the fall and winter of 2020/21, was the first in the forest since 1988.

The consulting forester who worked on the Timber Harvest project was Guild founding member Barrie Brusila, working off a plan by fellow long-time Guild member, forester, and wildlife biologist Rob Bryan. After the harvest, Barrie approached the Guild about hosting a service day to help Maine TREE reestablish the research grid, crucial to the ongoing data collection. Of course, Northeast Guild members were up for the task.

The day started with a brief overview of the Holt Research Forest and the ongoing data collection, followed by instructions for grid reestablishment in the field. In total, 17 Guild members and friends formed six crews and went to work in the woods.

Six graduate students joined the work party, four from the University of Vermont and two from the University of Maine. Five of the students were able to stay overnight at the Holt Research Forest and enjoyed dinner in downtown Bath, just 10-minutes from the facility. A focus for the workday was to provide networking opportunities for the students. They were assigned to crews with professional members to learn about the different types of work that Guild members do.

After a few hours of work, the volunteers reconvened for tasty, bagged lunches provided by Maine TREE. Each spoke in the introductions circle, a Guild staple, where they shared how they became involved with the Guild. If not yet members, they spoke to why they chose a forest-based career path.

Following lunch, the group returned to the woods for a post-harvest tour and silviculture discussion led by Barrie, and Holt Research Forest Scientist, Jack Witham.

“This service day at the Holt Research Forest was the perfect way to gather our community together – safely – to learn and work together in the woods,” said Guild Deputy Director Amanda Mahaffey, “I look forward to many more Guild Gatherings in our brightening future.”

Jonathan LaBonte, Maine TREE’s Executive Director, expressed the value of this service day for the organization. “With only a small staff team, Maine TREE depends greatly on the generous contributions of time and talent from members of the forest community to advance our programs. We were excited at the prospect of the Forest Stewards Guild hosting a service project in support of reestablishing our research grid and are thankful for their leadership in many areas of the forest stewardship in our state.”

The day wasn’t all work. While in the field, volunteers enjoyed the signs of wildlife, including a deer antler shed, an orchestra of bird songs, and hermit thrush eggs, conveniently tucked in a pile of the slash left by the harvest. Working in teams, students and professionals enjoyed sharing these discoveries together. The morning flew by.

May’s Student Voice by Matthew Penrose

Thu, 20 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Matthew Penrose, student member at Michigan Technilogical University

Matt’s background and introduction to the community

Growing up I had a lot of great opportunities in the natural resources field. I officially started working at my family’s logging company in Upper Michigan when I was twelve. I took care of the basic jobs around the wood yard. I would mow the grass, fill-up bar and chain oil jugs, sweep around the shop, just the simple stuff like that. Soon enough I started working with a retired piece cutter. I started off cutting, splitting, and piling firewood for the shop with him. We spent a lot of time together brushing logging roads out in the woods among the many other odd jobs. I enjoyed listing to all of his stories he had to tell about the time he spent working in the industry.

Around the time when high school started, I began running machinery in the wood yard setting up and sorting log sales. It was around this time when I started to think about what I wanted to do after high school. I knew that I did not want to work an office job. I enjoyed my time working in the industry so far, so forestry made the most sense. It was not a hard decision. My family has a long history of logging. Before emigrating from Finland, they were farmers in the summer and loggers in the winter. My grandpa’s grandpa came over from Finland in the early 1900s and started logging here. My grandpa worked in the logging camps with him. My grandfather got his forestry degree from Michigan Tech in the 60s and ended up buying a pulp broker’s business. That is now the family business. My dad got his forestry degree from Michigan Tech in the 1900s.

Towards the end of high school, I began cruising timber, running lines, mapping jobs, and doing other forestry work. I have enjoyed my time as an operator in the woods as well. I just finished my third year at tech. It’s been interesting learning new things at school, then applying them in the real world. I look forward to my future working in the natural resources field.

Here is a link to a hemp board website . They talk about forests being “destroyed”, while sustainable forestry is mentioned nowhere. I get that a company selling hemp is not going to talk about sustainable foresty, but I’ve been surprised recently with the lack of public knowledge of how timberland is managed. I look forward to hearing other thoughts and perspectives on these topics.

Looking forward

I’m mostly concerned with our low-value products. It seems like every year another pulp mill shuts down, and pulp prices are nowhere near what they used to be. Will carbon/biomass be enough to make up the slowing pulp industry? Another possibility would be mass-timber building. Will it take off in the U.S. like it has in Vancouver? Lastly is the public perception of the timber industry. It seems like almost every day I see an ad or an article pushing hemp or bamboo as a better alternative to wood. There is currently hemp wood being manufactured, but it’s still more costly than conventional wood. I’m sure it’s only going to be a matter of time before the cost is reduced though. What can be done about this? It’s a really broad question but it’s something in the back of my mind.

At the heart of the Guild, you’ll find our members

Thu, 20 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson

We are in an exciting time. It’s not just membership season at the Guild, but we are approaching weeks when we can get back to what we love, safely. The first in-person Guild Gathering in more than a year happened last week in the Northeast and was a big success. Great work and comradery,all on the ground, surrounded by beloved forests (more about this event coming in June’s ATL).We willget to celebrate our first 25 years at our long-awaited anniversary celebration this August in North Carolina too! Amazing online tools have allowed us to connect virtually and opened new doors and possibilities in their own ways, which we will continue to nurture. Nothing quite compares to a Guild Gathering campfire council practice though, where we all reflect on our common values and unique roles face-to-face.

New efforts in the Pacific Northwest are building momentum for members. We are piloting a new and dedicated online community to offer members in that region opportunities to share and learn from each other without as many schedule, distance, and safety constraints. It’s one way to build connections in a region that spans so many forest types and stewardship challenges and opportunities. The online community builds off a very successful Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit we co-hosted early this year.

The Spring 2021 Forest Steward magazine is fresh off the presses and is focused on students – another member area where 2021 is showing great leaps forward. Professional and affiliate members stepped up to share their experiences and thoughts with students facing a transition from studies to careers. Guild members also made it possible for us to offer new mentorship programs this year, which will help us serve the next generation of forest stewards better, as well as further innovate in more general ways.

A membership survey is coming soon, and we want to hear from you! If you are a current member, you’ll receive an email next week with a 20-queston survey. We expect this will take less than 10 minutes to complete. Your answers will provide the Guild with important information about what’s working, what’s needed, and the roles you’d like to see in place as forest stewards and everyone else begin to construct a “new normal.” We will continue to take on unprecedented climate and social justice challenges and we’ll need our full, organizational team on the effort – including members.

Renewing your commitment to ecological, economic, and socially responsible forestry. You can save the Guild time, money, and energyusage by renewing your membership today. Membership seasons run July 1 – June 30, so unless you’veset up auto-renewal, or already paid through the coming year, your membership will expire next month! Get a jump on our reminders by sending in dues now for July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022. If you are unsure of your membership status you can check via our website’s member portal, or email membership@forestguild.org .I’m happy to help you clarify and renew if needed.

The Forest Stewards Guild’s heart beats only as a collective. A community of members, partners, and supporters, all aligned toward a common vision for the greater good. Wow – this feels nice and I’m grateful every day that you, and I, are in this community of stewards. Thank you for all you do for the forests and those who depend on them. Let’s keep it up – together!

Guild Gatherings – online and in person!

Celebrating Nuance

Thu, 20 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I lower myself down on the white wood of a freshly-cut sit stump and look over the fruits of my labor. All around me is a “mess” of my own creation; dead trees jumbled across the hillside, treetops and brush everywhere. Even to my eyes, which have been trained to see beauty in irregularity and complexity, the forest looks vulgar and wrong; defying the deeply-ingrained part of me which seeks order, tidiness and simplicity.

These are moments in the lives of foresters, forest-lovers, land stewards, and landowners that feel truly incongruous. I feel it as I stare up into the canopy of a living tree, my chainsaw bucking in my hands. I feel it as the crosshairs of my scope hover over the brown flank of a beautiful deer, picking her way through the autumn forest. I feel it as I spray a thin blue mist of herbicide over the leaves of a Japanese barberry. It’s a feeling of dissonance, the tension between two seemingly contradictory things.

In each of these examples, I believe that I’m doing the right thing. I cut trees to help my forest recover from a century of exploitation, to restore diversity and resilience. I kill deer to lower populations to a level that our ecosystems can sustain. I use herbicide to control non-native invasive plants, a fundamental threat to the integrity of our ecosystems and our precious biodiversity. It would be easy if I could love trees and not kill trees, love deer and not kill deer, mistrust herbicide and not use herbicide. But, like our forests, managing them is complex.

Beside me, my old Stihl chainsaw rests in the duff. This is the same tool that unscrupulous loggers used to degrade my forest decades ago, creating problems that I will spend my lifetime fixing. Like my rifle, like my backpack sprayer, this tool can be used to destroy but also to support biodiversity, the integrity of an entire ecological community.

In a world where so many things deserve our thought and attention, most people don’t have the bandwidth to give forests and forest management the complexity of thought that they deserve. People want to decide that forest management is “good” or “bad” and move on. Unfortunately, as most thoughtful forest managers know, forestry isn’t good or bad. Like my chainsaw, forest management can be a profound and positive force; making our forests healthier and more complex, supporting our communities and providing us with local, renewable, beautiful resources that we can be proud of. Like my chainsaw, forest management can also harm forests, can be unsustainable, can rob future generations of the opportunity to enjoy the same healthy, vibrant forests that we do. The line between these two things is fuzzy, complex, and nuanced. There are forest management practices that are appropriate sometimes, things that are true depending on the situation, and a host of different variables.

As people who love and manage forests, it’s our job to dive into the uncomfortable spaces between simple, incomplete truths. It’s our job to celebrate nuance and uncertainty, to have the courage to wade into uncertain waters. Doing so will require us to compromise, to listen, to be flexible and adaptive, to be humble and willing to change.

Embracing nuance means broadening our vision, considering a bigger picture of the ways our actions affect our world. Something that feels “right” for you might be “wrong” for the landscape and its ecological and human communities, just as something that feels difficult or challenging for you might support people and ecosystems in a broader sense. For example, preserving unmanaged forests is beautiful and important, the protection of something truly unique and special. But doing so by categorically condemning forest management can be more regressive than progressive, refusing to consider the idea that forest management could be done in a way that supports a healthier, more functional world. It can mean saying “not in my backyard” while displacing the impacts of our resource consumption on people and ecosystems who don’t have the privilege of saying that. In our complex world, unmanaged forests are appropriate sometimes, just as forest management is appropriate sometimes. Both have value, both are pieces of the same puzzle and neither is always right or always wrong.

I sit on my stump and watch the autumn light filter through the changing leaves, casting the world in gold. In a world of extremes, the real challenge to managing forests responsibly is recognizing that the truth is nuanced; it can’t be reduced to a simple, digestible soundbite. Doing right by our forests and by each other means taking the time and energy to dive joyfully into the nuances of a complex world, to make tough decisions and to do important, uncomfortable things. I don’t want to kill trees, kill deer, or spray herbicide any more than the next guy. I do so because it plays some small part in how I help build a better world. If it seems incongruous, it’s because it is. And it should be.

Written by Ethan Tapper (Chittenden County Forester, VT). Photos by Eric Hagen.

A view from the Summit – reflections on the Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

The Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit was the first in a hopeful recurring series, highlighting the needs, barriers, implementation, and ideas for “innovative forestry” in the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States. A collaboration among the Forest Stewards Guild, the Intertribal Forestry Council, the Northwest Natural Resource Group, Oregon State University, and the University of Washington hosted this virtual event to connect people in a variety of forestry sectors. The Guild, with help from others, is now maintaining an ongoing, online network for those connections to continue.

More than 180 people registered for the Summit. Students, faculty, government staff, consulting foresters, forest product industry and certification professionals, landowners, aligned philanthropists, and staff from policy and other non-governmental organizations were present. The event participants spanned the forestry career life cycle from those just starting out to those retired from decades in the forestry field. This offered a rare opportunity for Summit presenters to reach a broad audience and for participants to connect during and after the event on varied perspectives, leading to rich brainstorms.

Five of the nine Summit presenters are Tribal members and they offered a much-needed and often missing perspective to forest management. Summit participants said that viewing their work from the lens of “What can we do for our forests?” vs “What can the forests do for us?” and seeing how work is implemented from that perspective was one of the most valuable parts of the event.

Another Summit will follow in the future, hopefully in person or as a hybrid event. In the meantime, thank you to all who helped this event happen, for those who attended, and for all of you who continue to engage in the online network. Together, we can build off the successes that Summit participants shared in the event evaluation and create opportunities for desired future experiences. Some of each are shared below.

“Integrated approaches to meeting a variety of needs (water, air, carbon, economics, social needs, fire resiliency) is key to evolving the private forestry sector in a positive direction. The cultural framework shown by Native presenters and their technical expertise in managing for multiple values and reintroducing fire to dry forests is critical knowledge.”

“The use of prescribed fire to achieve a variety of land management goals rather than solely to decrease the chance of catastrophic fire or for oak habitat.”

“Getting connected with other like-minded professionals, professional development.”

Summit attendees said they’d like to see the following moving forward, among other comments…and we can create this collectively in the online network!

“Maintain the network so people can share stories or ask questions to the group.”

“Workshop opportunities in addition to breakout groups.”

‘”Programs on how to replicate successful projects, insights into overcoming barriers.”

“How could direct public funding push things along faster – especially on carbon sequestration?”

If you’d like to view recordings from the Summit:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Written by Colleen Robinson

On the online network, which was reserved for paid Summit registrants but is now open more broadly in the region, members are encouraged to ask each other questions, share resources, and pitch ideas for further learning and gathering related to ecological and innovative forestry in the region. We want to facilitate connections, provide a community where people can bounce ideas around, improve their practices, solve problems, and pilot new ideas with support from other knowledgeable and aligned community members. Guild staff offer prompts on the network weekly, to encourage conversation and engagement. Already we’ve seen interest among members in helping to host an event from a woman’s perspective in forestry and a desire for more guided conversations around reciprocity and how to make a partnership with our forests be in the forefront of all of our work, including how we talk about what we do.

Participants shared what was applicable to their work from the Summit

Supporting Policy Change – The New Mexico Prescribed Burning Act of 2021

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Eytan Krasilovsky

The Guild’s work in New Mexico dates back more than 30 years and has made significant positive impact on many people, communities, and landscapes. In my time at the Guild, I’ve been fortunate to learn from Henry Carey and Orlando Romero to carry on their work. When I started in 2005, I never would have imagined being very involved in the development of a new law that has the potential to greatly improve our fire-adapted ecosystems.

The Guild’s role in operational fire began slowly in 2008 when Zander Evans and I worked on a report that found that most restoration thinning projects were not being followed up with prescribed fire. That finding led to a 2011 project in partnership with Jeremy Bailey of The Nature Conservancy and the Guild’s first burn, the 2013 Black Lake Prescribed Fire Training Exchange. Fast forward to 2017 and the Guild released our report in partnership with Marie Rodriguez of Promise PCES LLC, Controlled Burning on Private Land in New Mexico that identified uncertain liability, lack of training and certification for non-federal practitioners and landowners, and highly variable permitting as challenges to realize increased use of prescribed fire.

The 2017 report and its 2019 update supported by the Watershed Research and Training Center, led a coalition of partners including Laura McCarthy then with The Nature Conservancy of New Mexico, Emily Hohman then with the Chama Peak Land Alliance, and the New Mexico Prescribed Fire Council to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle. The team had a long-term strategy to facilitate safe use of prescribed fire in New Mexico. The first step was framing the problem in a legislative context. Working together, House Memorial 42 was passed in 2019 and established a working group to further clarify the challenge and propose solutions.

The House Memorial 42 working group completed our report in the summer of 2020 under the leadership of the New Mexico State Forester Laura McCarthy. The working group called for legislation to address the significant barriers that exist in New Mexico and impact implementation of prescribed fire on private lands including:

undefined statutory liability for prescribed burning,
lack of available and affordable insurance (directly corresponding to undefined liability),
private practitioners expressed a need for additional expertise through training, and
variability across local governments in the process for obtaining permission to burn.

A smaller sub-group of the working group comprised of the New Mexico Forestry Division, New Mexico State University – Cooperative Extension, The Nature Conservancy of New Mexico, The Nature Conservancy’s Fire Learning Network, and the Guild stayed in close communication in late summer and fall 2020 to find legislators to sponsor a bill to address these barriers in the state legislature. With Democrat and Republican sponsors secured, the House Memorial 42 report was reworked into a draft bill, House Bill 57 that was introduced in early 2021. The bill:

establishes a negligence standard for prescribed burning on private lands,
creates a training and certification program through New Mexico State University for landowners and contractors to build the skills to conduct prescribed burns safely,
provides an incentive for landowners and contractors to get that training, and
creates a model prescribed burning permit for counties to use if they choose to issue permits.

The 2021 New Mexico legislative session was completely virtual for the public, and there were many emails, Zoom meetings, and testimonial statements made in February and early March. House Bill 57 worked its way through committees eventually passing the House and the Senate and eventually signed by Governor Lujan-Grisham on March 18, 2021 . After brief virtual celebrations by the working group, we all acknowledged that the hard work continues – to implement the permitting, training, and certification changes called for in the new law.

New Mexico is now better positioned to bring good fire back to forests dependent on fire as an ecosystem process because of the Guild’s work with partners over more than a decade. It is a good example of how the Guild’s foundation on sound science and field-based experience can contribute to positive policy outcomes. It also underscores that partnerships are crucial for success. Similar coalitions are working in California, Oregon, and Washington to reduce barriers to prescribed fire.

Oregon State University Student Chapter Builds Community Through Stewardship

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Paul Catino

While Oregon is known for its impressive conifers lining the coast and Cascade Mountain ranges, between these lies the Willamette Valley, historically dominated by Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana). Prior to European settlement of the Valley, the Kalapuya tribes maintained oak woodland and oak savanna systems through frequent burning, a common practice of First Nations people here. These habitat types had been maintained by Kalapuya people for thousands of years, long enough for many species to adapt and evolve to the vegetation conditions. As European settlers began to dominate the valley, Indigenous people were displaced and land use changes resulted in the widespread destruction of these habitat types. Traveling around the valley, one can often still recognize “legacy” oaks, trees with full, mushroom-shaped crowns due to wide spacing and frequent vegetation control by Indigenous pyro-culture practices.

Oregon State University hosts the first Student Chapter of the Forest Stewards Guild on the West Coast. A fundamental component of the student organization is to provide active engagement in local stewardship projects. Prior to the government restrictions associated with the coronavirus, the Student Chapter hosted several trail-building events, tree-plantings, and vegetation management projects at local parks where oak or other restoration projects have taken place. They also engaged in educational field trips to the HJ Andrews Research Forest and the Arcata Community Forest, a Guild Model Forest.

To help fundraise, the student organization has partnered with a local landowner who has a Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) funded restoration project. This landown generously donated oak logs from to be cut and sold as firewood, and helped to construct an in-ground nursery to sprout oak seedlings collected from several sources of “legacy” genetics around Corvallis. After two years, the seedlings were recovered and potted up to be sold this spring. So far the Student Chapter has raised several hundred dollars selling these seedlings to local landowners. These funds help support student participation in educational field trips and promote the restoration of these important trees in our community.

Since its founding in 2019, the Student Chapter has worked diligently to provide opportunities for students to learn and actively participate in forest stewardship projects such as oak restoration. As the Student Chapter moves forward, they will continue to promote active, hands-on stewardship among students through tree-planting, walking tours of forestry projects, invasive species removal, trail-building, and other restoration focused activities. These types of projects allow students to explore innovative and alternative forestry projects, as well as recognize Indigenous stewardship of this landscape.

Editor’s note: if you’d like to read more about this very active Guild

student chapter, visit their Facebook page .

Bailey J. Kozalla, our March 2021 Student Voice

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Bailey J. Kozalla, Allegheny College, PA

Editor’s note: We asked Bailey what excites or fulfills her the most about her current field of study? Why does she major in, or research the subjects she has chosen? Her response follows, along with a bit of advice for her peers. Watch for more stories from current students each month in the Across the Landscape e-newsletter, and in the upcoming Forest Steward magazine printed by the Guild in spring 2021. Thank you for sharing, Bailey!

During my teenage years, I was indecisive about my career plans while planning for life after high school. I contemplated computer science because I had a knack for technology, and I briefly thought about following my mother’s footsteps in the medical field. Despite these options, I was always drawn to environmental science. I was introduced to the wonders of the natural world through my parents when I would tag along on deer hunts and fishing trips when I was around eight years old. As I progressively became more involved, I decided to complete my hunter-trapper education course and purchase my first hunting license at eleven years old. Over the years, I had found a sense of identity in the outdoors. My appreciation for the wild and the animals and plants that thrived there would eventually become my inspiration to dedicate and develop my professional goals towards it.

I started my freshman year of my undergraduate program at Allegheny College with a planned major in environmental science with a concentration in forestry during the fall of 2018. There was never really an “ah-ha” moment that triggered my interest in the forestry field, but rather my growing understanding of being a knowledgeable steward of the land brought purpose to my affection for the outdoors. With sustainable management of forests, the animals and plants that inhabit those forests will thrive for future generations. This virtue of sustainable forestry is what inspired me to be a part of the environmental field.

Before I started college as an environmental science student, I never really put much thought into the actual process of eventually becoming an environmental scientist. That was something that I thought would just come naturally. Both my peers and professors, however,
pushed me to exceed my limits and expectations that I had originally set for myself throughout the past three years as a student. I learned that I loved not only the hard-science of forest management and research, but also telling the story of environmental stewardship. One of the ways that I accomplish this is through Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Before college, I never knew what GIS was or why it is so influential in solving some of the toughest environmental problems. Now, I have found that GIS plays a huge part in my niche as an aspiring environmental professional. I love the hard work and deep thinking that goes into scientific and environmental problem-solving, but I also have come to love the art of conveying the solutions into the form of a story.

One example of this passion of mine was this past fall when I enrolled in a semester-long independent study in GIS. The project utilized an ArcGIS Story Map to create an online, interactive map for the Foundation for Sustainable Forests (FSF), located in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania. A non-profit organization that focuses on sustainable management of forests for future generations, the FSF is growing its online presence for its members and the community. This map displays the FSF’s conserved lands, as well as photos, descriptions, and other facts about each property. This was one of my favorite projects I’ve completed, as it not only provided me with invaluable experience with telling conservation success stories, but it also was easy to see the positive impact it had on my community and the purpose behind those many weeks of hard work.

This upcoming summer, I hope to utilize the techniques I’ve learned thus far as an environmental science student during an information and education internship I recently accepted at the Pennsylvania Game Commission. My advice for anyone who is skeptical about pursuing a career in the environmental science field is to just go for it. Use your passion for the outdoors and build it into your professional goals. There’s things out there that you don’t even know you are good at! The field is challenging, but just as rewarding. It’s been difficult in some aspects, but every part of the journey has been worth it.

Welcome Maura Olivos to the Guild’s staff

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

What interests you most about working for the Guild?

The Guild has a variety of fantastic efforts, all of which interest me, and a vision that speaks to my personal and professional goals. Yet, I think within my role for the Pacific Northwest I’m most looking forward to meeting and hopefully connecting with Guild members. The PNW has a long history of forestry, forestry professionals and research, and I really enjoy learning and hearing people’s stories. In addition, I’m very excited for the Foresters for the Birds and Women Owning Woodlands programs. These programs will be a great way to both connect with my fellow west coasters and hang out in the woods.

What do you feel you can contribute to the Guild ?

It has a been a fun and challenging course of work that has brought me to the Forest Stewards Guild. My early work was very much science or people, then as my experience progressed, the work started blending and including interpretation, collaboration, and a lot more learning. With the Guild I’m looking forward to using both my science and public relations background to 1) share and support the Guild’s principles, which are guided by science and 2) work with members and partners to continue to improve and progress the conservation of our forests.

What are you hoping to gain from this opportunity with the Guild , either on a personal or professional level?

From Zander Evans: We are excited to welcome Maura to the Guild’s staff. It was clear from our first conversations that Maura fit in at the Guild. Her grounding in the science of ecology paired with her passion for stewardship align perfectly with Guild principles. As a forest landowner herself, she has a direct connection to the day-to-day challenges of stewardship. Her enthusiasm for connecting people and forests is contagious. She is already helping the team organizing the Innovative Forestry Summit, which will be a great way for members to meet her and vice versa. As the pandemic retreats, she’ll be organizing the kinds of field events we all miss.

The vision for the Guild is to make ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry as the standard for professional forest management, from coast to coast. Maura is ideally suited to this role and I am really excited to watch how the Guild can grow in the region with Maura’s help.

Written by Maura Olivos, Pacific Northwest Region Coordinator

With the help of Guild members and partners I’m looking forward to gaining a greater familiarity and understanding of Northwest forests. There is also a very good likelihood I will gain more from this opportunity than I can foresee, and though I don’t know exactly what that may be, I’m sure it will be good.

Advancing Conservation Through Partnership in the Southern Blue Ridge

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Forests have a multitude of values including biodiversity, climate mitigation and water conservation, and different stakeholders often prioritize these values in different ways. As a result, the ways in which we approach conservation and responsible forest management varies across the landscape. Incorporating these differing perspectives can require creativity and innovation. In the Southeast, creative thinking led to a partnership between the Forest Stewards Guild and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) who, along with numerous other regional conservation partners, developed a pathway toward ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry and conservation in the Southern Blue Ridge.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Guild share a belief in the power of sustainable forestry to drive conservation outcomes and recognize that engagement with a diverse network of stakeholders is needed to provide forest-focused solutions to sustainability challenges. This commitment to collaboration is crucial when making landscape management and conservation decisions that will have lasting support and results. In response to this need, SFI and the Guild developed a project in the Southern Blue Ridge ecoregion of North Carolina to connect conservation efforts by a variety of stakeholders to the unique requirements of SFI’s Fiber Sourcing certification programs. SFI’s Fiber Sourcing Standard distinguishes SFI from all other forest certification programs in that it sets mandatory practice requirements for the responsible procurement of all fiber sourced directly from the forest, whether the forest is certified or not.

This project report details the results of the information-gathering phase of the project and represents the perspectives of people who live in the Southern Blue Ridge and work in these forests daily. These professionals have their finger on the pulse of conservation needs in the region, and they have offered their time to make a meaningful, tangible difference in the ways we consider managing our forests. The strategies identified in the plan’s conceptual model provide actionable items that can be seamlessly implemented into the everyday actions of collaborating groups to build a better, more sustainable Southern Blue Ridge.

The Guild plans to continue this partnership with SFI and build on what has been learned so far to further engage local SFI Fiber Sourcing certified procurement entities and partners to implement boots-on-the-ground action.

Written by Dakota Wagner

Filters in the Forest

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Philip ‘Henry’ Pitts, Guild student member, University of Alabama

The lake emerged from behind the asphalt as if it were an oasis, a shimmering blue pool amongst shining SUVs, inviting me to replenish my dry Nalgenes and take refuge on its shores from the scorching Alabama sun. It was July of 2020 and I was attempting a through-hike of the Pinhoti, which stretches through the Talladega National Forest to join the southern terminus of the great Appalachian trail in Georgia. I was two days into the journey, having spent the first night caught in a rainstorm, and the second day marching along 11 miles of boiling rural highway, warding off country dogs and rattlesnakes with my trekking poles. Joy Lake, a manmade lake centering a small subdivision on the outskirts Sylacauga, had been my aim all day, with the trusty trail guide announcing in all caps that after this urban watering place there were “NO RELIABLE WATER SOURCES FOR 15.5 MILES !!” Despite this dire warning after one look at the water, I decided I’d rather take my chances with any intermittent streams that might have sprung up after the previous day’s showers once I was back in the forest. The concrete jungle that drained the surrounding area of the lake accumulated enough litter, oil slicks, and high levels of suspended sediments that I found myself longing for the restorative filtering efforts of forest litter and soils.

Effective forest management should address and prioritize the continued protection of riparian zones, as these areas provide invaluable habitat for endangered species, mitigate the effects of flooding, efficiently drain the catchment system, and filter any water in situ. Luckily for me Talladega National Forest benefits from effective management as I was able to find shallow, yet clear and seemingly clean water to stock up on for the blistering days ahead, despite extremely dry conditions prior to the rainfall event. Though my research interests during term time typically aligned more with water policy and water governance on a larger scale, my time on the Pinhoti fostered a newfound appreciation for the essential role of forests in water management.

Celebrating Guild founding member Mark Andre

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Mark Andre and Michael Lynch

Join other Forest Stewards Guild members and staff in congratulating founding Forest Stewards Guild member Mark Andre on his recent retirement from City of Arcata, CA. Mark served the City of Arcata for 36 years as the City Forester and Director of the Environmental Services Department. During his time with the City, Mark managed the 2,500-acre Arcata Community Forest, a Guild Model Forest and well-known west coast example of community-based forestry. He was responsible for doubling the size of the Arcata Community Forest, helping establish the new Humboldt State University college forest, and crafting a working forest management plan that was embraced by the community and enhanced the watershed.

The Arcata Community Forest has been a showcase for exemplary forest management that balances economic, ecological, and social dimensions. Mark also served on the California State Board of Forestry for many years and helped promote the idea and practice of sustainable forestry throughout the region. Mark recently reflected that “Without a doubt, my Forest Stewards Guild affiliation has been one of the most important and rewarding aspects of my professional forestry career.”

Not really retried, Mark now works as an Associate Forester with BBW and Associates, an Arcata based forestry consulting firm that includes several Forest Stewards Guild members.

On behalf of the Forest Stewards Guild members and staff we thank Mark for his contributions to the field of sustainable forestry. To learn more about his contributions and long-held aspirations to “do things differently,” read this perspective from the Northcoast Environmental Center . It speaks volumes about how Mark and other perseverant founding and more recent Guild members can bring about change by not only doing things differently, but by inspiring others to start from a place that looks upon our forest management tasks and our relationship to forests differently than the mainstream of recent history.

Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

The Pacific Northwest region forestry community benefits from a long, deep, and often underappreciated history of experimentation and innovation in the forest sector. Current challenges call us to better understand both present and past examples of forestry innovation, and to chart a course for improving sustainable forest management through partnerships and problem solving. In response to these challenges, a group of regional forestry leaders are convening a Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit . This Summit is a venue for regional learning, exchange, and ongoing cooperation to implement ecological forest management strategies. The Summit’s programs will focus on sustainable, forest-related innovation – past, present, and future. This Summit marks the beginning of an ongoing, intentional effort to connect, innovate, and uplift each other and our ideas in the realm of forests and forestry in the Northwest region of the U.S.

Three-part format

We will precede the event with featured stories online of innovation from around the region. Stores will highlight the successes, challenges, and opportunities that land managers and other forestry and natural resources professionals are engaged in across Oregon and Washington. All members of the forestry and affiliated communities are invited to contribute to the Summit by sharing their experience and questions.

During the virtual event, each day will include a series of themed presentations and discussions from 4 to 6 pm Pacific Time. Partners will share their approaches to modern ecological forestry, and breakout groups will form to discuss themes, ideas, challenges, and partnerships inspired by the topic at hand. Pulling from ancestral knowledge and projecting into future modeled scenarios, topics cover the role of fire in forests, wood products and carbon, non-timber products and first foods, and ecosystem benefits such as water quality and wildlife habitat. On the last day, we’ll touch on how the role of disturbances and multiple benefits of forests factor into innovative forestry practices. Discussions of multi-generational silviculture, the economics and alternatives in silviculture, and more, will provide a thought-space for ideas to breed.

The online stories and virtual gathering are just the beginning. We are building a community space where people can continue to share ideas, ask questions of each other, post and access resources, and engage in focused discussions on popular themes over time, and at their leisure. Guild members know well, the “spark” that can be created in this space is about connection and collaboration to make a lasting difference, to work together to find new ways of thinking, knowing, and exploring solutions. Innovation in forest management starts with inquisitive minds and hearts sharing ways to learn more and practice our work better.

Please register early to embark on this partnership with the Guild and Northwest region collaborators. If you’re interested in getting more involved ahead of the event, please email membership@forestguild.org.

Organizers: The Forest Stewards Guild, Northwest Natural Resource Group, Oregon State University, and University of Washington.

Written by Colleen Robinson and other Summit organizers

Membership and Policy Council 2021 Greetings

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Alex Barrett, MPC Chair

Greetings and Happy New Year from the Membership and Policy Council. From where I sit here in southern Vermont, 2021 is off to a good start in the woods and I hope it is the same with you and where you practice. We have a cold crust of snow, forest contractors are settling into winter routines, and we are thinking about spring tree planting and forest management plan writing.

This is my first update as the MPC chair. I am taking over where Shane Hetzler so ably left off in December after a steady year at the helm on the tumultuous seas of the pandemic, the unprecedented wildfire season, and a forest economy that has been on a wild ride. Thank you for your leadership, Shane. I am looking forward to your continued contributions this year on the MPC.

Thanks to all of you for voting in the recent MPC Elections. Marianne Patinelli-Dubay and Mary Stuever join the MPC for their first terms and Mark Jacobs returns for another term. They each bring a unique background and set of professional expertise. We are fortunate to have them on the Membership and Policy Council along with the other returning members. We had a strong set of candidates this year. Thanks to all who ran- we are a member-driven organization and all of you make us what we are.

On Tuesday, January 12th, we will meet for the first time in 2021 to welcome new members, check in on the work from the year past, and plot a course for 2021. I am excited to be coordinating the MPC’s efforts as we continue to work on diversity, equity and inclusion, and student engagement, as well as work with the Board and staff on important policy statements around managing plantation forests and fire.

I am also excited for the MPC to engage this year with the broader membership. As past chair Robert

Turner put it to me once, and I’ll paraphrase here, “The Guild has been successful thanks to a deep pool of shared forest and community-based social capital. This is great, but the pool constantly needs replenishing.” So, I am looking forward to working on that this year with all of you. We will also collaborate with Guild staff on efforts to solicit member input and support our student members as we build the connections and strengthen the values that hold us all together in our work with forests and the people who rely on them.

Most importantly, we’ll need your help, so please be in touch and come to both digital, and we hope, in-person gatherings this year. In the meantime, please let us know what is going on in your favorite forested ecosystem, and let us know how the Guild and the MPC can better help you do what you do.

Welcome Logan Johnson to the Guild team!

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

What interests you most about working for the Guild?

I am excited to join The Forest Stewards Guild because of its broad reach across geography, and programs promoting responsible forestry on the ground and as a profession for the next generation of forest stewards.

What can you contribute to the Guild, in the NE and/or overall, based on your background, experience, and interests?

I believe my background will benefit the Guild because of my diverse education and professional experiences. My education includes a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in anthropology and a Master of Forestry. From these academic experiences, I have developed a strong understanding of topics regarding science (biology), society (anthropology), and practice (forestry).

My professional work has focused on outreach to landowners, natural resource professionals, teachers and students, and the general public about the benefits of sustainable forest stewardship in Maine. My experience ranges from land stewardship to digital media and everywhere in between. I believe my unique and diverse skill set will help further the Guild’s mission in the Northeast and beyond.

I am most excited about connecting with the Forest Stewards Guild’s network of professional forest stewards in my new position. I look forward to working with the staff and members throughout the United States who put the forest first.

From Amanda Mahaffey: I am thrilled that the Guild has added Logan Johnson to our staff in the Northeast. Since I began working for the Guild in 2012, our programs and member activities have grown beyond scope of one person’s role. Logan will expand the Guild’s capacity in the Northeast and help us better fulfill our mission and serve our members in this region. I look forward to helping him grow in the Northeast Region Coordinator role as so many Guild members and staff have mentored me over the years.

Logan brings the skills and talents needed in this position, but more importantly, he brings a fresh perspective that enhances the Guild team. Logan has a strong sense of place and is passionate about supporting family forest owners and forest-based communities like where he grew up in eastern Maine. He is already part of Maine’s forestry community and is known to be dependable, modest, and a good communicator. Logan has a good head for creative approaches to bringing people together to learn from each other. I look forward to introducing Logan to Guild members, hopefully safely and soon, with his Forest Stewards Guild hat on!

Written by Logan Johnson and Amanda Mahaffey

We welcome Logan Johnson, Northeast Region Coordinator, to the Guild staff this month. You can read more about him on our staff page, and learn a bit about his perspective regarding the work he will engage in with the Guild below.

What you look forward to gaining from this opportunity with the Guild, either on a personal or professional level?

Forestry for Maine Birds Program Offers New Videos

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

This partnership feature written by Sally Stockwell at Maine Audubon

Are you interested in learning more about how you can help birds and other wildlife while managing your woodland? If so, check out the new Forestry for Maine Birds videos . The Forest Stewards Guild, Maine Audubon, Maine Forest Service, and Maine Tree Farm have created a series of videos filmed in the woods that walk you through the essence of an in-person workshop, including:

an introduction to Forestry for Maine Birds and why Maine is so important for birds
an introduction to the habitat features birds need
a conversation with a Maine Forest Service forester and private consulting forester. and
links to more resources and funding opportunities to help you manage your woodland “with birds in mind.”

Here are some details about each of the videos in the series:

Join a wildlife ecologist and two professional foresters to learn about the international significance of Maine’s forests for breeding forest birds, and how to manage your woodland “with birds and other wildlife in mind.”

Part 2: What Forest Habitat Features Do Birds Use?

Watch forester Amanda Mahaffey introduce you to 10 important habitat features that are important to breeding forest birds and other wildlife. Learn how to do a “handy habitat assessment” of your own woodland to find out how many you have.

Watch forester and Guild member Andy Shultz discuss in detail the five live habitat features of a Maine forest that are important to breeding forest birds and other wildlife.

Part 4: The Importance of Dead Wood

Join wildlife ecologist Sally Stockwell as she extols the virtues of dead wood, and showcases why dead standing and down wood is important for breeding birds and other wildlife.

Part 5: Putting Your Forest Management Plan into Action

Hear from three professional foresters about how to get the help and advice you need to put together and pay for a management plan that meets all your goals for the future of your woodland.

Bonus Episode 1: Taming Invasive Plants in My Woodland

Hear from two professional foresters about what resources are available to help you identify, contain, and limit the spread of nonnative, invasive plants in your Maine woodland, including color booklets, invasives experts, and funding.

Bonus Episode 2: Landowner Services

Interested in having your woodland certified as being sustainably managed to provide wood, wildlife, water, and recreation? Learn how to join the Maine Tree Farm program. Also learn about how the Maine TREE Foundation is helping educate youth and adults about the value of family woodlands and forest products.

Bonus Episode 3: Tips for Towns: How to manage your community forest

Take a tour of one of Falmouth’s community forests and see firsthand how it is being managed with Town Forester Paul Larrivee.

Extras! For those wanting to dive in even deeper, and especially for professional foresters, we have two additional longer videos you may be interested in:

Forestry for Maine Birds Tutorial – How to Complete a Habitat Assessment

Join Sally Stockwell from Maine Audubon, Andy Shultz from the Maine Forest Service, and Amanda Mahaffey from the Forest Stewards Guild to learn how to assess your forest for birds and other wildlife in this tutorial video. Sally, Andy and Amanda will walk you through how to complete each different section of the Habitat Assessment Form.

Forestry for the Future: Lessons in Sustainable Management from Maine

Tour the U.S. Forest Service Penobscot Experimental Forest and see how different kinds of silviculture and harvesting have changed the forest over the past 60 years. Learn from experts at the University of Maine, Maine Forest Service, Maine Audubon, and others around the state about how to manage your woodland for the future, considering timber production, wildlife habitat, climate change, pests and disease. Written and produced by University of Maine forestry graduate student Maren Granstrom.

You can find all these videos, plus many other resources for loggers, landowners, and foresters on Maine Audubon’s Forestry for Maine Birds webpage: www.maineaudubon.org/ffmb .

Part 1: What is Forestry for Maine Birds?

Part 3: Live Habitat Features

Looking forward to 2021: Forest Policy

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Maintain and Expand Forest Cover,
Improve Forest Practices for Carbon, Adaptation, and Resilience,
Advance Markets for Forest Carbon, Forest Products, and Skilled Labor, and
Enhance Climate Data and Applied Science.

The Guild will continue to participate in the FCWG because the details of these goals are important, and we can help ensure implementation plans align with Guild values.

The Guild has also joined a group of 34 like-minded organizations in support of the REPLANT Act (S. 4357 and H.R. 7843) . This act was introduced over the summer and is rare, bi-partisan legislation to get more trees planted on federal land by removing the $30 million cap on The Reforestation Trust Fund, which is funded by tariffs on designated wood products. Due to the outdated $30 million cap, most of these revenues are unavailable for addressing ever-increasing critical reforestation needs. There are almost 8 million acres of national forests in need of reforestation, which includes 1.3 million acres of forests in need of immediate treatment. Through the REPLANT Act, the Forest Service will be able to treat these priority lands and plant or naturally regenerate more than 1.2 billion trees over the next decade alone, creating nearly 49,000 jobs.

The change of administration is an opportunity to take a fresh look at a wide range of policies. As the Biden administration begins to build its policy goals, the Guild and partners are advocating for several of policies to benefit forests. Guild staff contributed to a recent letter to the administration’s transition team members, calling for a high-profile, bipartisan commission to be convened to identify innovative policy solutions and elevate the need for improved forest and fire management as a top national priority.

Whether at the state or national level, the Guild plays an important role speaking for the forest.

The Guild works collaboratively with land stewards and communities in the woods and we take the same collaborative approach to policy. We work with like-minded organizations and coalitions to advance policies that promote excellence in forest stewardship and protect forests. The Guild’s policy work is guided by our Policy Statements , which are drafted by the Membership and Policy Council and voted on by professional members. For example, our climate change policy statement guides our approach to engaging with the Forest and Climate Working Group (FCWG). The Guild has signed on to FCWG’s new policy platform along with nearly 50 other forestry and conservation organizations (including some led by Guild members). The platform focuses on goals that are central to the Guild including:

At the state level, the Guild has provided expert input on a legislative effort to expand the practice of prescribed fire on private lands. We hope the resulting report to the legislature will motivate them to establish a gross negligence liability standard, establish a state training and certification system, and establish consistent ignitions permitting standards across the state. These changes will help ensure good fire returns to the forests that need it to remain healthy.

Welcoming back Leonora to the Guild team

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Leonora Pepper

This spring I returned to the Guild staff after a two-year hiatus living and working in Brazil. Despite an unusual homecoming amid the pandemic, it has been exciting to see our organization’s ability to adapt in real time to continue providing strong initiative, collaboration, and program outcomes. I’m looking forward to an eventual return to working with colleagues in person, spending more time in the field, planning in-person events, and working more closely with members of our youth program.

I first came to the Guild in 2017 for a summer internship, and I stayed on that fall as a Program Coordinator in the Southwest office. A year later, life events took me to live in São Paulo, Brazil, where I worked with Solidaridad Network developing a program on yerba mate. For this project, I spent a full month on the road in Brazil’s three southern states, covering 4500 kilometers and interviewing 60 yerba mate growers and 16 family-owned processing plants as part of a supply chain analysis of this traditional agroforestry product.

Upon returning to the U.S. this past spring, I had the opportunity to spend 6 months working closely with Amanda Mahaffey in the Guild’s Northeast region. I enjoyed getting to know our programs and partners in that part of the country, and I had the chance to collaborate with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS), work on Oak Resiliency in Southern New England, and support chainsaw safety training programs for Maine women woodland owners.

As of this fall I am back at the Guild’s Southwest office. I’m thrilled to return to New Mexico’s forest systems and open spaces, and one current focus of my work is the Zuni Mountains landscape of northwestern New Mexico. Through a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLR) grant and a Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP) grant, we are working with the Cibola National Forest and other regional partners to implement thinning and prescribed fire restoration treatments, with the aim of moving the landscape toward more resilient conditions.

I also continue to coordinate the national Women Owning Woodlands (WOW) program. Through WOW, I work closely with a network of professionals across the country to bring relevant and engaging programming and resources to women woodland owners and

Thanks to Leonora and Gabe Kohler for the photos in this article.

enthusiasts, supporting them in active stewardship of their land. I have also been seeking out opportunities for the Guild to advance how we approach and promote diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in our organization and in our work. As this year has challenged us and pushed us to innovate and adapt, I couldn’t be happier to again be part of the Guild team.

Responding to the challenge posed by wildfire

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Zander Evans

Wildfire is arguably the biggest forest stewardship challenge for communities, landowners, and managers in a large swath of the country. The wildfires of 2020 have burned over 8.7 million acres and damaged nearly 17,700 structures – underscoring the devastating human impact. As smoke blanketed communities this summer, several people asked what the Guild is doing to step up to the crisis. In fact, the Guild’s work on reducing the negative impacts of wildfire on ecosystems and communities goes back decades. We have been working to:

bring good fire back to fire-adapted ecosystems,
expand and share fire science,
train the next generation of ecologically minded firefighters,
pushing for better fire policy, and
making communities safer.

The Guild has both supported and led prescribed burns with our partners. We are a proud part of the Fire Learning Network led by The Nature Conservancy that uses a collaborative model to plan and implement prescribed fire in key landscapes across the country. The Guild’s participation in prescribed fire was a natural outgrowth of our efforts to restore forest health through thinning. As thinning projects advanced, Guild staff saw the need for the next step: return the essential ecosystem process. Active participation in prescribed fire also reflects the Guild’s commitment to “practice what we preach.” Our mission is to both practice and promote forest stewardship.

Our engagement in prescribed fire highlighted other needs such as research. The Guild has contributed to fire science for over a decade. From early work assessing the effectiveness of fuel treatments in New Mexico, to brand-new research on the management of naturally ignited wildfires for resource benefit , the Guild has made a significant contribution. Often the Guild serves in the role of science synthesis and dissemination. The Guild helped develop and continues to play a major role in the Joint Fire Science knowledge exchanges that work to foster two-way dialog between managers and researchers.

Another place the Guild connects knowledge and practice is through the development of fire adapted communities . The Guild is actively working with communities in New Mexico and Colorado to develop wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) and to share best practices for CWPP development across the country. Because of our office in Santa Fe, staff has been particularly active in the Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition , which is a unique multi-jurisdictional effort to restore the forest health in the city’s watershed and protect against uncharacteristic, high severity wildfire. This collaborative work and its support for prescribed fire likely helped to keep a fire this summer from becoming a disaster . The Guild is working on exporting successes from the Santa Fe Fireshed to other regions. For example, we are working to bring a successful air filter loan program that protects vulnerable people from smoke during prescribed fires to other communities.

As part of the Guild’s focus on supporting the next generation of forest stewards, we have expanded our training efforts. We are just concluding our fall Forest Stewards Youth Corps which trains youth from rural communities to be firefighters – and thoughtful ecological stewards. This year was complicated by the pandemic, but a focus on safety allowed the participants to complete the program and stay healthy. As the Guild continues to grow, we hope to find ways to expand our training to other regions and continue to step up to the challenge posed by wildfire as the climate warms.

Feathers, Sweaters, and Better Weather: A Short Look at the Big Picture of Bird Migration

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written (and photos) by Gregor Yanega

I invite you to consider bird migration, and how it is simultaneously subtle, regular, and large in scale. Imagine the cold air as it sinks into the furrows of the watershed under the stars while a few puffy clouds scoot across the moon like children late to dinner. Small squadrons of quick, black dots, darker than the night sky, flap from silhouetted barn to field to wood in little flocks, stretching out and clotting together before disappearing up the tree-cloaked slope of the far hillside. There are pulses to the quiet caravans of birds. The more you look, the more they appear, driven sideways like ash or snow – these siskins, finches, and juncos. You hardly hear anything unless you strain for the sound. Single notes quail in the night. Little pips and boops drift down in a soft sonic rain, in all that remains of their passage. Migration is both visible and invisible, the way icebergs are in the arctic: remarkable yet expected, seen, yet underestimated. So much goes on when we are not looking, when it is too cold to stand there much longer, when it is too dark to see.

A hallmark of fall, seasonal migration is like a comfortable sweater or a good watch – it can be counted on. Its reliability and familiarity make the abnormal more acceptable. Whether sailing over oceans of smoke to the next green valley, or across highways, housing developments, and dry lakebeds, migration is increasingly abnormal for birds, but it has always been hard. So, why migrate? Why do these millions of animals fly, sometimes for thousands of miles, each season? It seems almost silly to suggest that it is for the warmer weather and the all-you-can-eat buffet, as though human snowbirds and actual snowbirds were the same. For birds, the act is not for luxury or mere comfort. It is a better shot at survival. And in this way, migration brings into focus the gulf between the near field and the long view, the proximate and ultimate causes operating on different scales. For example, the migration decisions a bird makes on a cold morning might seem to be about right now: Do I feel fat enough to fly far? Do I wait for a clear night to leave? Do I flock with a bunch of other birds like me? Should I land in those trees? Over time, these small, immediate decisions become consolidated into behaviors that are the grist of evolution and specific to each species.

Likewise, humans make decisions that are built up into longer stories that take years to tell. We like to make decisions that we can appreciate in each new slice of now, but we need a way to balance the decisions we make right now (to get a dog, to live in the woods, to thin a stand) with what these decisions will mean for us over time. We can calculate from things we’ve done or learned before, and anticipate what might be, to help us in the long view.

This anticipation of what might be does as much for the short-term and long-term survival of humans as knowing when to migrate, and where to stop, has mattered to populations and species of birds. However, we have more agency than birds do in how we respond to the anticipation of what might be. We can plan to shape our woodlands and yards in ways that balance multiple benefits. We can make immediate choices that support watersheds, migrating and breeding birds, and objectives of fire resilience, harvests, and planting for a new climate. There is a sweet spot between research, legacy, practical considerations, and collaboration that will allow us all to weather the unexpected, and the unwelcome expected, better together. We can plan ways to use lands in times and ways that minimize harm, maximize benefit to forests and birds, and make the places that we live and the job of stewarding the land a more optimistic and enjoyable job in the moment. Forestry for the Birds in the Pacific Northwest is that comfortable sweater you are looking for right now, but it is also there to help make a workable place for humans and birds for years to come.

When a lot seems to change in a short amount of time, we look to the metaphoric horizon to steady ourselves. Things like the return of green leaves to a winter landscape, the return of flowers, the hum of bees, and animal migration. Yet even migration – this example of timelessness of seasons and the resilience of life in the face of storms and fires and habitat loss – happens later, almost two weeks later for most species, than it did 50 years ago. While it may seem unsettling that even these timeless processes are fluid, it is also encouraging that change, too, is clocklike and reliable, like succession and seasonal renewal. We adjust. Burnscapes heal and forests come back. When the world shifts, we need to shift with it, and make sensible decisions with an eye toward the next harvest, the next copse of trees, the next spring, until we have a plan that makes sense for next year and for the long haul.

This year has been a difficult one with the return of devastating wildfires to the West. Places that haven’t burned in recent memory are burning. The past 20 years have seen more fires and more acres burned than in the previous 100. I think, as hard as this year has been, we are presented with a chance to reconsider our future, and draw on the best blend of science, economics, tradition, and anticipation to think about how silvicultural practices and conservation objectives in a given place can align to lay the groundwork for the next resilient, diverse, and productive forest. Together with the skulking robins, we’ll spend the winter constructing a road map for the space between the near and far field, a patch of shrubs heavy with berries, and a choice among several sweaters.

This preparation is comforting, the constancy of migration, succession, and seasonal renewal is comforting, even if decisions in the short term are hard. Rapid, dramatic changes such as wildfires demand more of our flexibility, and more attentiveness from our present decision-making to ensure that we’ll be better off in the long haul.

Getting to know a Guild student member, Anna Welch

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

An interview with Anna Welch, a new Guild student member.

Please share a little background on who you are, where you study, and why you joined the Guild.

My name is Anna Welch. I study at the University of Connecticut in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. I am pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Natural Resources and the Environment with a concentration in Sustainable Forest Resources and a minor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I joined the Guild to share and nurture my passion for the woods with the help of a broad network of likeminded individuals. In sum: I cannot get enough of trees and the outdoors!

What unique perspective or set of skills do you feel you bring to the world of forestry and forestry research?

Utilizing multidisciplinary pursuits to cross-pollinate my perspective of forestry and forestry research. I have a passion for natural resources which knows no bounds. For instance, I identify vegetation, categorize watersheds, and track wildlife while I trail run. Forestry is a scientific creative art: it balances intuition, historical knowledge, and informational research (to name a few!). Therefore, I maintain a holistic knowledge base as an active participant in a spectrum of sectors. I seek to understand nature through many forms: in drawing, photography, creative writing, and recreation. Indirect to natural resources, I play acoustic and electric guitar in a jazz combo at UConn and monitor in the darkroom, to name a few. Gaining exposure across diverse dedicated disciplines feeds my abilities in forestry. Forestry takes not only from science but also from social, cultural, and economic insights, so I maintain active observation throughout my life. In practicing daily presence and intentionality, I have found a wealth of information to repurpose and reseed within my dominant passion of forestry.

What barriers do you face and how do you feel you could be best supported to navigate around them?

One barrier that comes to mind is finding my place as a woman in the forestry field. Finding a balanced relationship with my personal vigilance against gender bias is difficult in a field traditionally dominated by men. Additionally, I had initially found friction transitioning from a more urban upbringing (with ‘white collar’ ideologies) to a broader appreciation of practical and agricultural knowledge. Acceptance, encouragement, and willingness to listen can best support me as I make peace with these barriers. Surprisingly, wrestling with these barriers often strengthens my forestry. My beginnings and subsequent journey have allowed me to relate forestry practices effectively to a broader public. These barriers ground me in an attitude of openness and strike a harmony between personal modesty and personal confidence.

Please describe a highlight in your life that relates to your choice of study/research/career path.

Doing a solo camping trip in the Adirondacks this past summer. Throughout the trip, I felt an overwhelming unity of my physical, conceptual, and practical intelligences – all of which found their stride through practicing forestry. I never felt alone when surrounded by plants, shrubs, and wildlife that I intimately understood and recognized! I left on a Thursday afternoon, spending the morning completing input for long term ecological monitoring data with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Summer field-work days inspired my car-packing technique: milk crates filled with supplies for every potentiality. Bear spray was tucked in my backpack – a gift from my supervisor, “I’ve kept it in my foresters vest for the past few years just in case.” Flagging was tucked in my daypack – a nod to my boss, “I always have an extra roll of flagging to throw far in case I take a spill.” My car wore a kayak hat – a fashion statement which I had become notorious for when showing up to field sites over the course of the summer.

I arrived in the Adirondacks at dusk and hiked to a lean-to on the Northville Lake Placid Trail. Upon hiking out the next day, I kayaked at Rich Lake in Newcomb, NY – yes the spot where SUNY ESF is – then stayed the night at the Buttermilk Falls lean-to in Long Lake, NY. Waking early, I drove with the sunrise to the Van Hoevenberg trailhead within the High Peaks Adirondacks Wilderness in Lake Placid, NY. Striped maples were my first friends on the trail leading to Mt. Marcy. Over the next two days I summited Mt. Marcy, Phelps Peak, Wrights Peak, and Algonquin Peak. My legs were well-primed from weeks prior spent hiking off trail to collect data, paint boundaries, or measure and quantify forest plots. My mind was well-primed from remaining methodical while sweat soaked my vest, bugs bit my arms, and green briar hitchhiked in my skin. Most gratifyingly – I had only planned to complete one summit but a foundation of preparedness and a passion for operating within the natural environment carried me through two 20+ mile days. The success of this trip underlined all the forestry and natural resources components that I find fulfilling. For example; relating to myself and my environment with the utmost care through curiosity and responsivity. The woods have the goods!

If you could ask questions of someone who has been in the field of forestry for a decade or more, what would you most want to know from them right now?

How has the forestry field has changed since you began and where have you found success in adapting to that change? Additionally, how do you measure your management success despite the large temporal scale within with forestry exists.

There are so many challenges in forestry, and everything is so interconnected. What do you feel the biggest challenge is moving forward in the next 10 – 25 years in forestry?

I feel the biggest challenge moving forward is remaining authentic to forestry’s ideologies in the face of multiple and competing interpretations of conservation. Forestry is inherently long term, adaptive, and teeming with historical influence – a practice whose temporal bounds are much larger than the temporal bounds even of a human lifespan. Remembering our roots, which go as deep as indigenous people’s forestry practices, in the face of rapidly changing socioeconomic and environmental context is a goliath. Cultivating open, far-reaching perspectives rather than holding too tightly to ‘traditional’ or ‘one-way’ thinking takes requires a balance of modesty and courage which is difficult to achieve. Trees know best: embrace disturbance and you will grow!

Are there successes you have witnessed or learned about from longer ago that you feel can give us hope for meeting these future challenges? If so, what are they?

In listening to a podcast entitled “Science of Arboriculture”, a representative from the New Zealand Tree Project spoke about their non-profit’s mission to “…[share] imagery of majestic trees and native forests from viewpoints that are rarely experienced.” I was encouraged when this representative cited coordination with local indigenous people one of the project’s initial actions. Their prioritization of “rare viewpoints” literally in the sense of physical tree imagery and conceptually through practicing inclusion is heartening.

Forestry management can be controversial. Its communication and practice therefore require upholding a reconciliatory rhetoric despite frustration with misinformation and misconceptions. To take another lesson from forests: community diversity yields vigor, health, and sustainability.

Editor’s note: thank you to Anna for sharing these reflections and details, and for the photos and artwork…(all credited to Anna Welch unless otherwise noted in the caption). As the Guild continues to put high value on supporting the next generation of forest stewards, hearing from student members about their experiences, concerns, perspectives, and predictions is incredibly helpful.

Open Doors: An FSYC Success Story

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Tyler Wysner and Chris Martinez

Many of us have dreams of working in a particular place or doing a particular job, but not everyone possesses the resources or connections to turn those dreams into reality. For Christopher Martinez, the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) Program opened doors that allowed him to make his dream of working with the Forest Service a reality.

Living in Peñasco his whole life, Chris had the mountains as his backyard. Jicarita and Truchas peaks are among his favorite spots to visit. Growing up with hiking, fishing, and hunting as a central part of his lifestyle, he aspired to work in the Forest Service from the start.

“I worked a million jobs in Española; construction, fire, Walmart, everywhere!”

Chris was a crew leader on the Española FSYC crew for summer and fall sessions in 2019. Having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in conservation and wildlife habitat management, he was able to bring practical experience into his role with the crews.

“The best thing about the program for me was the opportunity to teach. I was able to introduce the crew to Game and Fish, the Forest Service, and the fire program, so they got a wide variety of things to look at.”

According to Chris, the most engaging part of the program was what made the crew members want to come back: being involved in an ongoing project. He made educating the crew on the basic structure of wildland firefighting integral and built an outline with them to organize the entire summer.

“They were able to connect with the working firefighters and got to be part of the project. I gave them each a job, so they already knew what they had to do.”

Chris’ advice for crew leaders is to not wait around for someone to tell you what to do. Have a back-up plan or project on hold to keep the crew working and learning. He says if you show them the “whys”, “hows”, “wheres”, and “whos”, they will understand the project better and be able to connect the dots themselves.

“Get really engaged-don’t stand back and watch them, get in there and learn something for yourself.”

The best thing crew members can do, according to Chris, is to keep an open mind. Asking questions helps to find the reason behind what you’re doing and allows for exploration of interests as they come up. He would encourage crew members to take advantage of the knowledge the crew leaders and district officers have to offer. The FSYC program served as a boost for Chris’ career, and he hopes that others will be able to have a similar experience.

“It was my goal from high school to get into the Forest Service, and FSYC opened that door for me.”

Chris works on the Coyote Ranger District Fire Crew and enjoys his work on the engine. Although the current pandemic has posed limitations for travel, it has served to bring him and his teammates closer.

“My favorite part is working with the crews and building that relationship. You and your crew get really close, like a little family.”

Overall, Chris found the FSYC program to be very fulfilling. He keeps in contact with some of his former crew members, giving them advice on applying for jobs.

“It’s a good feeling when they come back to you after the program ends. You know they are using what you taught them rather than it just going out the window.”

The goal of the Forest Stewards Youth Corps is to provide connections and experiences for young individuals aspiring to pursue careers in conservation, forestry, or land management. Chris Martinez’s experience is a prime example of the program’s success, and he hopes to be able to continue having an impact on younger generations. As the FSYC program continues and grows, we at the Guild hope to support the growth of budding conservationists.

Ecological Silviculture: Foundations and Applications

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

In the early days of the Forest Stewards Guild, silviculture was largely seen as a means of maximizing timber production. Today, a new textbook captures the tenets long upheld by Guild members and provides a comprehensive, scientific reference for justifying the holistic approach we take in our work. Furthermore, this text addresses ecological silviculture in the context of today’s world of climate change and an ever-shifting forest policy landscape. Ecological Silviculture: Foundations and Applications is a worthwhile read for foresters of today and tomorrow.

The authors are familiar names in Guild circles: Brian Palik, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station; Tony D’Amato, University of Vermont; Jerry Franklin, University of Washington; and Norm Johnson, Oregon State University. This is no coincidence. “Over the couple of decades, the Guild and its members have led the way in demonstrating the feasibility of these approaches for satisfying those traditional objectives, while also generating a wider range of ecological and societal benefits,” says Tony D’Amato. “A big part of the inspiration for this book was observing the work of Guild members and others who have been demonstrating that these concepts can be realized in practice.”

The book is rich with thoughtful silvicultural approaches and photos from well-managed forests across the country, including examples from Guild foresters. For instance, a box in chapter 8 features management for structural heterogeneity in northern hardwoods in Aitkin County, Minnesota, the stomping grounds of Guild member Mark Jacobs. Readers at work in forests from New Mexico, to Washington, to Maine, to Florida will find inspiration in the forest systems and treatments described in the text. The words in Ecological Silviculture will resonate with Guild members everywhere, regardless of your native forest type.

Spoiler alert! Remarkably, this text reframes the familiar. Ecological forestry principles are founded in traditional silviculture, i.e. regeneration methods. However, rather than simply adding a layer of ecological objectives to classical treatments, Ecological Silviculture deliberately changes the language we use. Ecological silvicultural systems are centered on the natural disturbance being mimicked by treatment, e.g. gap disturbance in northern hardwoods. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize that this approach is not exclusive of timber values. Reframing silviculture through an ecological lens captures the whole system, including the economic importance to forest-dependent communities.

Brian Palik wanted to highlight (right) for Guild members the list of Tenets of Ecological Silviculture presented in chapter 1 and revisited in chapter 17. “I would suspect that many Guild foresters would read this and say…yep I try to do that…” he says, “But hopefully the book gives them more of the tools they need to achieve these objectives.”

The publication of this book aligns with the milestone of the Guild’s 25th anniversary as a membership organization, and we can look to it for inspiration for the next 25 years of forest stewardship. As the authors conclude, “In fact, the greatest gains in silviculture are made through its practice by creative foresters and we are excited to learn of the insights and ideas developed over time from the wider application of the principles and practices presented in this text.”

Stay tuned for a webinar the Guild will host with the authors in December, to share more about the book and its content and engage in discussion!

Ecological Silviculture: Foundations and Applications is published by Waveland Press . The authors are donating royalties from the book to the Guild to help further our ecological forestry programming.

Written by Amanda Mahaffey and Zander Evans

Shortleaf Restoration Continues, from a Distance

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Dakota Wagner

The weather has changed in the Southeast to sunny, crisp, and cool. The perfect time of year to get out in the forest and look at some trees…. easily done while social distancing!

While out doing field work near Sparta, Tennessee, Jen Chandler and Dakota Wagner came across several beautiful shortleaf stands at the Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness Wildlife Management Area. Did you know that shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) has the widest range of any southern pine species in the Southeast? It is a fire-adapted species that grows best in savanna or woodland forest structures. Shortleaf pine ecosystems have a robust resiliency to disturbances, provide important habitat for wildlife such as game species and songbirds, and are adapted to survive in conditions of drought. Shortleaf pine currently occupies less than ten percent of its historic range, with 70 to 80 percent reduction in Tennessee and Kentucky alone.

Partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Guild has been promoting shortleaf pine habitat restoration on the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee and Kentucky since the Fall of 2019. Our partnerships continue as we build on the work completed thus far: hosting learn-and-burns and other educational events for landowners and practitioners, implementing prescribed burns, and more. Now, the Guild is working with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to produce a shortleaf pine restoration plan for their Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness WMA. Excited by TWRA’s enthusiasm for wildlife habitat enhancement, particularly for Northern Bobwhite Quail, the Guild hopes to aid in the continuation of their great work. The restoration plan will incorporate activities such as ongoing implementation of prescribed fire on the WMA. Shortleaf pine is dependent on fire to reduce competition from encroaching hardwoods and other vegetation, so when land managers promote frequent fire through stands with shortleaf, the habitat suitability for quail and other wildlife is positively impacted.

Additionally, to help both landowners and practitioners achieve shortleaf restoration goals on property they own, manage, or care for a Shortleaf Pine Restoration Toolkit is in the works. The Guild hopes to couple this toolkit with a socially distant, guided forest walk at Berea College Forest in Kentucky later this fall.

Two Forest Stewards Youth Corps members receive North Face Explorer fund scholarships!

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Gabe Kohler

Two individuals from the summer Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) demonstrated excellence in environmental stewardship, career aspirations, and community leadership in their applications to The North Face Explorer Scholarship. Scholarship winners Marisa Armijo and Derek Martinez from the Las Vegas Ranger District FSYC crew will receive $1100 towards their college tuition and books this fall.

This Fall Marisa will be attending Eastern New Mexico University as a Sophomore pursuing a bachelor’s degree in wildlife and fisheries. Marisa has been attending college-level classes in the last two years of her high school experience while working and helping her family with ranch work. Her commitment to land stewardship and to community leadership made Marisa a stand-out candidate for the scholarship. Marisa shared that, “The scholarship is helping me with tuition and books and to further my education in order to become a game warden.” She expressed deep gratitude to The Forest Stewards Youth Corps for helping her gain experience and connections for her career. When asked about her reaction to receiving the award, Marisa said, “It makes me feel appreciated to be recognized in such a meaningful way by The Forest Stewards Guild and The North Face.”

Derek Martinez shares Marisa’s love of wildlife and is pursuing a career in wildlife biology with an emphasis on bighorn sheep populations. As a fourth-year returning summer FSYC crew member, Derek has continually demonstrated his love for the outdoors and a “deep respect and admiration for the diverse species of wildlife in New Mexico.” Each year, Derek shared his creativity and love of wildlife by drawing the graphic featured on the back of our crew member t-shirts. The Guild is proud to help Derek take the next steps in his career by providing scholarship money for Derek’s sophomore year at New Mexico State University where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology. When we reached out to Derek to notify him of his achievement he said, “Thank you to The North Face Explorers fund and especially to The Forest Stewards Guild for making this great scholarship opportunity possible.”

We are excited to see where the future takes these two bright young leaders and have encouraged them to stay in touch with The Forest Stewards Guild as they take the next steps in their careers.

Guild Interns at US Fish and Wildlife Offices (Sept’s student voice)

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Mike Lynch

The Forest Stewards Guild has partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the last several years to provide students with hands-on experiences to learn how forestry and wildlife management work together on public lands. This position had historically been a 26-week position that was best suited for recent graduates. In 2020, we switched to a 12-week summer internship model which opened the opportunity to current students that were at or near the end of their academic studies. These students are hired by the Guild and based at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in McBee, South Carolina. We will be offering this opportunity again as a 12-week position in 2021 and look forward to getting to know another pair of great students like we had in 2020.

Amy Sofferin and Lauren DeWitt were selected from a strong pool of applicants prior to COVID-19 outbreaks in the US. We were initially very close to canceling the 2020 internship program but Carolina Sandhills Refuge Manager, Allyne Askins, came up with a solution with one of her colleagues that would allow this to be a safe and educational opportunity. Her colleague was hiring two Director’s Fellows to work on a terrestrial based Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) project to measure specific changes to the vegetation structure (fuel loads) at Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge but they were not allowed to deploy to the field and had to find other ways to collect the data. We determined that the Carolina Sandhills NWR could be a safe location with no planned interaction with the public and decided to train the Guild interns with the two LIDAR units (one FWS, one Tall Timbers). This opened a great learning opportunity for our interns in an expanding area of forestry.

Amy and Lauren prepped for their experience with appropriate quarantine and travel precautions, and were provided lodging accommodations and products that helped keep their risk low for Covid-19 throughout their internship.

In the end, the Guild interns collected the data at Carolina Sandhills and Piedmont NWRs and uploaded it through the cloud so that the Director’s Fellows could do the data work, modeling, analysis, etc. in conjunction with Tall Timbers and the inventory data collected at CSNWR/ PDNWR. Refuge Manager Allyne Askins said “both of the interns were excellent – smart, industrious and eager!” and it was “great to see them working on this cutting-edge project.” In fact, an abstract with Lauren and Amy’s names on it was accepted for a presentation at the – now virtual – Biennial Longleaf Conference, sponsored by The Longleaf Alliance.

A little bit about our interns:

Amy Sofferin interned with us between her junior and senior years at North Carolina State University where she is studying Forest Management. Amy aspires to go into land management with the purpose of managing for wildlife habitat and said the summer working with the Forest Stewards Guild has “given me a great opportunity to assist the US Fish and Wildlife Service with collecting forest inventory data using LiDAR while also gaining wildlife management experience” and “that experience will give me the confidence to go back to school and into the workforce better prepared. I am excited to apply all I’ve learned to make a real-world impact.”

Lauren DeWitt grew up living and working on hunt clubs with her family in South Carolina and said that time working and playing in the woods, marshes, rivers, and fields helped shape her life-long love of biology, wildlife, and environment. Lauren is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with an emphasis in Ecology at Coker College. After completing her studies, she hopes to work with a public or private conservation and management organization and wanted to use this internship to increase her forestry experience. This was Lauren’s first forestry internship and she was very excited to get to learn about LiDAR and all its potential in the forest industry. She said it “took a little while to get the technology sorted out – but it was pretty easy and simple to take and upload the data once we got it working.” She said “we had to overcome a lot of obstacles but that’s normally how it goes when you’re trying to figure out something new but we persevered through it all and had fun while doing it.”

Both interns did a wonderful job this summer in difficult circumstances and we wish them all the best as they complete their education and enter the work force.

Please stay tuned to the jobs and internship pages at for opportunities with the Guild and our terrific partners. If you want to help recruit well-deserving and potentially interested students, or if you would like to apply yourself and have questions, please contact Mike Lynch at mike@forestguild.org or 608-449-0647.

Welcome Gabe Donaldson to the Guild’s fire team!

Sun, 13 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

My first experience with the Forest Stewards Guild was over two years ago, when I began to rely on the Fire Management Team to help fill critical leadership and operational roles on prescribed fires I was helping to lead or organize. Since then I have watched the Fire Program expand into well-aligned, strategic arenas, maintaining their focus on the Guild’s overarching mission and strategy. As a partner to the Guild’s work, it has been a privilege to transition from my role as the Colorado/Arizona Fire Program Manager at The Nature Conservancy into a new role as an Assistant Director of Fire Management with the Guild.

My career in wildland fire started in 2000, when I watched the Cerro Grande Fire churn out smoke and ash over the campus of St. John’s College in Santa Fe. After seeing the outcomes of that fire, I decided that I needed be a firefighter and not a great books scholar, and soon found myself employed with the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. During my time with the Bureau of Land Management, I had the honor of leading a hotshot crew for 6 years as the Superintendent and had the amazing opportunity to respond to fire via parachute as a Smokejumper for 6 years. I also had the pleasure of taking an ecosystem management immersion program at UNLV, graduating in 2012. Most of my time has been spent throughout the Western US suppressing fires, until I got a job with The Nature Conservancy in 2016, when my focus shifted to prescribed fire implementation.

I am excited to be working for the Forest Stewards Guild and have already been surprised by how connected things are relative to my experience with larger organizations. I anticipate that my understanding of non-profit business management will increase with the Guild, and I hope to leverage existing partnerships and projects towards accomplishing work at a greater pace and scale. I was also drawn to the Guild’s position on diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice and believe strongly in promoting awareness for issues surrounding these topics.

It seems that we are always working these days, but when I can, I escape to my vegetable garden to prune tomatoes, or harvest zucchinis, peppers, onions, kale, etc. My three pit bulls, Mari, Bubba, and Daisy spend their days on individual beds in my home office, and my 5 year old son, Teaghan, is usually in need of my printer for his train-of-thought letters to grandparents, aunts and cousins. In the evenings I take web development lessons from my partner, Tara, and slowly chip away at my understanding of software engineering. My favorite band is LCD Soundsystem, well, maybe Built to Spill, it’s a toss-up, and my favorite food is probably green chile (because it goes with everything!). I am hooked on HBO, loved Watchmen, and my most recent favorite movie is A Quiet Place. Some of my favorite books are Angle of Repose, A Fools Progress, and On the Road.

It is a pleasure to be working for the Forest Stewards Guild and I am excited to be apart of such a wonderful and talented team!

Written by Gabe Donaldson

A Budding Conservationist (August’s student voice)

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Tyler Wysner

I have always been fascinated and enamored by the natural world and how it works. Studying biological sciences enabled me to approach my wonderment of nature with a scientific mindset, and therefore deepen my understanding and captivation by it. I moved to New Mexico from Indiana about 4 years ago after a short visit that left me overtaken by the beauty of the landscape. I fell in love with the open sky, the elegant mountains, and the enchanting forests. It was then that I knew I wanted to be part of the conservation efforts to protect these amazing lands.

Coming out of undergraduate education, I felt drawn to follow several different career paths in conservation and was unsure how to choose. I applied for a wide range of positions (lots of field tech positions, temporary/seasonal jobs with very structured and specific work plans), but I was most excited about the thought of interning at the Guild, for a few reasons. I did not know much about the Guild, and my preliminary research into the organization yielded a vast collection of projects that dipped into many different areas of expertise. I saw the huge potential to learn a little bit about a lot of things, all in one place. I had never thought to pursue something like fire management for example, but I was intrigued by the idea of trying on some different (hard) hats.

Writing has been in accompaniment of my love for nature since before I can remember. I was ecstatic to work on writing projects with the Guild, and to have the opportunity to write about things I was learning in real time. Writing in different formats about varying topics has not only reignited my love for writing in general, but has allowed me to challenge myself as a writer. I have expanded and adapted to writing styles that I haven’t worked with much in the past. For example, I had never written anything in blog form before, so having to be pithy in a less formal setting felt new to me, and more challenging than I expected. No matter what career path I follow, I will take that with me and be able to grow from it as I continue to explore my writing ability and how it connects to my passion for conservation.

I hope to continue to explore some different ways of thinking about preservation and protection of the land, whether it is in the forestry field or not. There are so many facets and moving pieces involved in any type of conservation work, and I think it is incredibly valuable to be able to view that puzzle from multiple perspectives, as is done at the Guild. I am grateful in saying my time here has highlighted some of my strengths and skills and given me a bit of confidence and direction in my career path. Every person and every organization has something different to offer, and through exploration of varying perspectives, I plan to find out what I can uniquely offer the world of conservation.

FSYC Summer of Safety

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Tyler Wysner

The Forest Stewards Guild Youth Conservation Corps, or FSYC, aims to provide valuable field experience for young adults interested in forestry and conservation. In collaboration with the Forest Service, crew members participate in ongoing projects and gain hands-on skills in areas such as trail maintenance, fencing, stand monitoring, and more. Safety is always a top priority for the crews, but this year following safety protocols has taken on a new meaning.

The Guild took special care to prepare guidelines and protocols in collaboration with physician recommendations to keep the crews safe and healthy. These protocols included daily temperature checks, utilization of facial masks, hand-washing stations and sanitization practices, as well as implementation of social distancing and recurring Covid-19 testing as a precautionary method for avoiding the spread of the virus. Of course, these guidelines posed challenges for everyone working in the field. Wearing a mask while hiking and completing physically-demanding tasks is difficult, but possible when the crew leaders and members are able to support each other.

Each of the four crews had their unique challenges, but many of the participants expressed their satisfaction with the FSYC program despite the pandemic limitations. “During a time that is so scary with the pandemic, it has been nice to explore what the natural world has to offer.” – Selina Chacon, Coyote Crew Leader

Although this year has posed new obstacles, the summer FSYC program proved to be a success. Many of our partners at the Mountainair, Coyote, Las Vegas, and Mount Taylor Ranger Districts commented on their satisfaction with the program and the crews ability to operate under unique circumstances. Only with their support and continued communication between Guild members and the crews were we able to make this summer a success, and we gladly associate the challenges faced with learning opportunities. We hope that we at the Guild and crew members alike will be able to use the experiences this year going forward, allowing us to face new hurdles with a positive attitude.

Welcome Jen Chandler, new Guild Southeast Region Manager

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

The thing that drew me to the Forest Stewards Guild was its vision of “ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry as the standard…” These words resonate with me and have formed a basis for the work I’ve done in the past, particularly with American ginseng.

I feel fortunate to work for an organization that brings together people with vastly different backgrounds from all over the country to work toward a meaningful common goal. My background in ecological research spans from forest ecology work in Appalachia to climate change work in northern Alaska, and these research skills will translate to the active, applied work that I’ll be involved in as the Southeast Region Manager at the Guild.

Additionally, the Guild has a reputation as a leader in outreach and communication, and I hope that my experience teaching at the college level will help further outreach efforts in the southeast. I’m excited to be involved with the amazing network of collaborators in the southeast and beyond to continue working on the exciting projects already underway, and to develop new, meaningful projects in the future. In my short time at the Guild, I’ve already learned so much from the members I’ve spoken to, and I’m looking forward to gaining even more insight from those members who have boots on the ground in forests throughout the southeast.

When I’m not working, I love spending time with my family (humans, pets, and plants) and taking every opportunity to get outside in the mountains of NC and on the beaches of SC with my 2-year old pup, Nali! One of my favorite activities is “botanizing” and trying to learn new plants wherever I live. I’m also never one to turn down a good camping trip, fantastic live music, and preferably the combination of the two by way of music festivals.

Written by Jennifer Chandler

Forest Stewards Guild : A View from Canada

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Ray Travers, a Guild member in Victoria, BC, Canada

The COVID 19 virus is sending a message that humanity is putting excessive stress on nature. Conventional forest management based on assumptions of ecological stability and long-term predictability, no longer serve as the conceptual foundation for forest policy and practice.

In central British Columbia, Canada there was a major mountain pine beetle epidemic 2003 to 2016. Combined with large-scale clearcut salvage logging, the results are numerous, unintended ecological, economic, social, and cultural consequences.

In British Columbia clearcut logging is by far the dominant forest practice on some 150,000 ha/year. (370,000 acres/year). Public land is 94 percent of the province. A return to business as usual, along with other industrial activities, will only set the stage for another pandemic, like SARS, H1N1, or Ebola. 1

The Forest Stewards Guild provides a forum for practitioners of ecological forestry to explore ways to reduce stress on nature, while serving human needs. Canada and the USA share the same cross-border ecosystems, so we have a common set of challenges and opportunities.

The Challenge

There are two basic challenges and questions, fundamental to all else in forest policy and practice. What do people want (i.e. outcomes) from current and future forests? Once decided, what are the most effective means to sustain these desired outcomes?

Good decisions will be based on reliable information, what can be effectively implemented, and will have a positive impact.

The Opportunity

The post COVID -19 economy provides an unprecedented opportunity to practice restoration forestry. For example, let’s approach logging insurance companies to encourage restoration practices to increase forest resilience and reduce the risk and costs of another lockdown. Putting the forest first requires valid information regarding forest conditions and their capabilities, as well as the economic and environmental consequences of various forest practices.

Restoration forestry is by definition, the opposite of plantation management. Rather than having costs hidden and deferred to the next rotation or human generation, in restoration forestry, there are no hidden or deferred costs. Restoration forestry is pay-as–you-go.

Proposal
Restoration forestry means thinking big and thinking long term. Management guru, the late Peter Drucker said “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Ecological forestry is becoming policy in Nova Scotia, and I look forward to it becoming policy in British Columbia. Let’s work together on ideas to increase the contribution of the Forest Stewards Guild to ecological forestry, in Canada.

1 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/11/deforestation-leading-to-more-infectious-diseases-in-humans/

Editor’s note: You can find Oliver Raymond Travers (Ray Travers) in the Guild’s online Find-A-Forestry Directory if you’d like to be in touch about Guild forestry in Canada.

Re-learning our regions through the lens of racial justice

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Corrina Marshall.

The Forest Stewards Guild strives to better understand the regions in which we work, with a focus on racial justice. We have outlined the information we would like to learn and share with each other, our members, our partners, and the public. This learning will center around:

regional Indigenous perspectives on culture, traditional ecological knowledge, and land use,
regional racism in forestry, ecology, and land management and stories about how these actions are still impactful today,
highlighting Black, Indigenous, and people of color who work in forestry, ecology, or land management in our regions and learning from their experiences.

It is imperative that we better understand the land that we work on, and learn about historical forestry work that has had discriminatory impacts. We must work together to make the Forest Stewards Guild a more knowledgeable organization, and work within the field of forestry, ecology, and land management to push for progress. In the Intermountain West, we are beginning that work by learning about the indigenous history of the land where our office is and where we work to promote prescribed fire as a tool for ecologically minded land management.

We read People of the Poudre , an ethnohistory on the different Indigenous histories in the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area. This area surrounds a portion of the Cache la Poudre River from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, to the Great Plains near Greeley, Colorado. While some of the historical record mentioned in this document is biased by the writings of European settlers, the authors consistently acknowledge and identify these biases. This area has a deep Indigenous history. Historical accounts of the area teach us not just about the human history of this landscape, but reaffirm how the ecology of the area has changed due to European settlement here. Within the fire community, we often describe this landscape’s fire history and fire return interval. People of the Poudre describes the Indigenous history of land management and frequent fires, maintaining an open landscape, dominated by grasses and forbs.

The above image is a European traveler’s depiction of this landscape while Indigenous land management would have still been in place. Below is a photo of what much of the foothills look like now – more heavily forested which comes with higher fire risk.

We learned about the variety of Indigenous groups that occupied this land, as well as the nomadic and transient lifestyle that occupied this area and allowed such fragile and open landscapes to flourish. During the Protohistoric stage (1540-1860), and the Historic stage (1860 to present), there was a succession of groups that utilized this landscape, including “the Upper Republican, Dismal River Apache, and proto-Shoshone culture groups as well as modern tribes.” Arapaho, Cheyenne, Sioux, and Ute tribes are well known indigenous groups that utilized this land, but we also learned of the Kiowa, Comanche, Pawnee and Shoshone use of the lower Poudre river.

Reports of Indigenous knowledge in People of the Poudre that was given to European settlers on how to avoid flood, fire, and famine shows we have a lot more to learn from this historical and traditional ecological knowledge. Indigenous groups in America had and have a close relationship to fire for land management, and we have a lot to learn about the health of this landscape. Going forward we need to better integrate this land use history and Indigenous cultural use into our planning documents to inform the recommendations we make on wildfire mitigation and forest health.

Forest-to-Cities Climate Challenge of New England Forestry Foundation

Tue, 14 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Jennifer H. Shakun, NEFF.

We are in the midst of an important national conversation about the role of forests in climate change mitigation—one which often centers on the perceived tension between the role of forests as a natural mechanism for carbon capture and storage, and their role as a source of renewable raw materials. Of course, with the right management approach, it is possible to achieve both of these goals on portions of the forest landscape. This is critical because there can be big climate benefits when wood is substituted for more carbon-intensive materials (like plastic, steel, and concrete). In particular, there is potential to take the carbon savings from wood substitution to a whole new scale by satisfying growing housing demand in densely populated areas with the construction of mid- and high-rise mass timber buildings. But we can’t have climate-friendly wood products for this construction without a local wood supply from well-managed forests that continue to store carbon and provide other ecosystem services—truly sustainable solutions must recognize how our natural, economic, and socio-political systems are interconnected.

It is in this spirit that New England Forestry Foundation launched the Forest-to-Cities Climate Challenge ( www.ForesttoCities.org ). The effort brings together a broad array of stakeholders from different segments of the value chain—from those that grow the trees (landowners, foresters, conservation groups) and build the materials and buildings (sawmills, engineered wood manufacturers, architects, engineers) to those who are shaping the future of how we will live in the built environment (policy makers, planners, climate and housing advocates)—all in an effort to link lower-carbon mass timber construction in New England with the local forests that sustainably generate wood for them. Participants sign a simple pledge that articulates this vision. The Forest Stewards Guild was an early signatory and Guild members (along with colleagues in related fields) are the essential first piece of this value chain because none of the ensuing climate benefits are possible without thoughtful stewardship of our working forests. With a critical 20 to 30 year window in front of us for climate mitigation, the forest sector can be a leader in developing these kinds of holistic, cross-sector solutions that maximize our efforts to address the challenges of a warming planet.

Climate Change in Maine’s Forests – A Graduate Project

Tue, 14 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Alyssa Soucy, Guild student member

Climate change impacts both human and ecological systems, making all who rely on natural resources highly sensitive. There is a diverse range of values and beliefs among individuals working in forested landscapes and among the people they serve. We must consider these diverse perspectives when communicating with different audiences about climate change adaptation (or coping and responding to change).

In Maine, the forest industry contributes to the state’s economy and supports many communities through job creation and social well-being. Impacts from climate change require the use of adaptation strategies to ensure the future of Maine’s forests. As part of my masters, I sought to understand perceptions of climate change impacts and adaptation among forestry professionals, as well as assess vulnerabilities to climate change in the state. This included stakeholder surveys, interviews, and the creation of spatial data products. The results of this research are being used to consider outreach strategies to communicate adaptation and help influence best management practices to cope with climate change impacts.

We found that forestry professionals are aware and concerned about the impacts of climate change on forests. Specifically, there was growing concern regarding insects and pathogens, extreme rainfall events, shifts in forest composition, invasive species, and changes in forest growth. However, despite experiences and concern with climate change impacts, there was hesitancy to formally incorporate climate change into the forest management planning process as a result of the uncertainty in climate change impacts and barriers to adaptation, (e.g. financial or time constraints). The vulnerability assessment also revealed regions in the state that may be more susceptible to a changing climate given the combination of biophysical impacts and community characteristics. A surprising result for myself, was the common perception of climate change as an opportunity for the forest industry given the positive impacts of increasing forest productivity.

I began this project with a background in geosciences and very limited knowledge of social sciences. Through this work I have come to understand the value of incorporating human dimensions into natural resource management. Specifically, within forestry this means considering the diversity of stakeholder experiences, needs, and motivations. This project has sparked an interest in communication and message frames that appeal to the things people care most about. As I continue to work in environmental sciences I hope to further explore the importance of communication and learning in natural areas.

Funding support: This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, McIntire Stennis through the Maine Agricultural & Forest Experiment Station under project number ME0-41504; AFRI Agriculture and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change (AFRI ANRCVC) Challenge Area Program under Grant number 2018-69002-27933; US Forest Service, State and Private Forestry under Grant number 17-DG-11420004-144; and the AVANGRID Foundation.

New Opportunities, New Connections

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

As many of you have heard, Nick Biemiller has transitioned from the Forest Stewards Guild to the Ruffed Grouse Society / American Woodcock Society (RGS/AWS). We are fortunate to have a great staff at the Forest Stewards Guild, and while we would like to keep all our energetic, enthusiastic, and effective staff, change is inevitable. In fact, supporting staff in new endeavors has helped the Guild grow. Nick’s move, for example, opens up a golden opportunity to build new partnerships.

Nick may no longer be Guild staff, but he is a life-long Guild member. Guild members and partner agencies and organizations know Nick for his passion for ecological forestry, his desire to connect with people across the Southeast landscape, and his drive to make science-based management happen on the ground. Nick has grown a diverse and complex southeast program that touches on ecological forestry in bottomland hardwoods, shortleaf pine restoration, community forestry in western North Carolina, education about appropriate management for mesophytic coves sites, and carbon-friendly forestry in the southern Appalachians. He has also strengthened ties with new and long-standing Guild members and engaged them more deeply in collaborations centered on Guild-style forestry.

I’ll miss working with Nick on a daily basis, but I’m excited by new collaborations with RGS. In his new position as the Forest Conservation Director at RGS/AWS, Nick will lead their forest wildlife conservation efforts in the southern Appalachians. As Ben Jones, RGS/AWS President & CEO said, “Ruffed grouse are hanging on by a thread and we have to put our best foot forward. With his deep understanding of forestry and wildlife conservation, Nick is the right person for the job.” Nick’s job at RGS/AWS is to support working forests in the southern Appalachians and encourage science-based forest management that improves habitat for ruffed grouse, woodcock, and all forest wildlife. This goal aligns well with the Guild’s mission, so it is no surprise that we’ve already been talking about ways RGS/AWS and the Guild can support each other.

Next month, we’ll introduce ATL readers to the Guild’s new Southeast Manager, who will work with Dakota Wagner, our Southeast Coordinator, to continue the projects Nick started. Like any Guild-style forester, Nick has left the “forest” better than he found it, with lots of options for the next forester to explore. Thank you, Nick Biemiller, for all your work on behalf of the Forest Stewards Guild!

Written by Zander Evans and Amanda Mahaffey

Helping hemlocks, helping humans

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Writtten by Hanusia Higgins, Guild student member

Last year, I served as an AmeriCorps member with the Hemlock Restoration Initiative of WNC Communities in Asheville, North Carolina. This small but mighty program’s mission is to protect and preserve the hemlock trees of western North Carolina from a devastating invasive pest: the hemlock woolly adelgid. I got to monitor for adelgid-eating beetles, educate landowners on how to save their trees, and treat hemlocks with chemical insecticide to protect them from the adelgid. Looking back on my yearlong term, one experience that stands out most is treating the majestic hemlocks of Violet Hill Cemetery.

Sixteen eastern hemlocks, likely centuries old, have stood sentinel over this land as the human and ecological landscapes transformed around them. In the past few decades, they have faced their own battle with the invasive woolly adelgid. On a misty day last April, students from the University of North Carolina Asheville gathered to learn from the Hemlock Restoration Initiative team and treat the hemlocks of Violet Hill Cemetery with systemic insecticide. Our actions preserved the hemlocks for at least five years to come. Hopefully, advances in biological control and other conservation techniques will ensure their long-term health.

Violet Hill Cemetery, founded by Dr. L. O. Miller in 1932, is one of Asheville’s oldest African-American cemeteries. Since the days when even burial sites were segregated, it has been a serene resting place for the city’s Black community, with the large hemlock trees providing shade and tranquility. That community faced significant challenges throughout the 20th century; notably, Asheville was one of many cities to implement “urban renewal” projects in the 1950s -1970s, dividing and destroying predominantly Black neighborhoods to build new infrastructure. The construction of Patton Avenue severed Violet Hill Cemetery’s link to the nearby Burton Street Community. Today it bears witness to more strife, as the Asheville Police Department destroys medical supplies of community members protesting the murder of George Floyd and the widespread police brutality against Black Americans.

The fates of hemlocks and of humans are inextricably intertwined. These trees provide us with clean air, cool water, and countless other services. In return, we unknowingly introduced a pest that may lead to their demise, but we may also be their only chance at survival. On a larger scale, environmental protection is inseparable from racial justice. The history of racism in America has shaped every facet of our country, and the fields of forestry and conservation are not excepted from the racism that continues to this day. Like many others, I have been deeply affected by the protests and resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the past few weeks. As fervently as I advocate and take action for ecological protection and curbing climate change, I must and I will show the same passion in working towards racial justice. In doing so, I hope to honor the legacy of the hemlocks at Violet Hill Cemetery.

About the author: Hanusia Higgins is a student member of the Guild, and a master’s student at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. She is studying the impacts of the emerald ash borer and of the management response to it on northern hardwood forests.

Re-creating Collaboration

Fri, 15 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Leonora Pepper and Zander Evans

The pandemic is forcing many of us to rethink how we work, particularly around collaboration. The Guild is meeting the challenge, at a time when collaboration is essential on all fronts. We have increased online learning opportunities , while looking forward to when it’s possible to gather again safely for field discussions. Watch for a recording soon of our recent Career Call, to help our student members connect with professionals in the field for support during unprecedented learning and career challenges. A recent publication from our colleagues at Sustainable Northwest , an NGO focused on collaborative conservation in Oregon and Washington, is titled Resources and Best Practices for Adjusting to Remote Collaboration . This guide has suggestions for how to hold effective online meetings and some general resources for dealing with the pandemic.

In May, a webinar on Communicating with Landowners about Oak Resiliency offered insights and practices for crafting a targeted approach to landowner outreach. This was an interactive webinar in which participants considered landowner scenarios, then generated ideas for outreach approaches. In one scenario, the landowners’ concern about the Covid-19 outbreak factored in to their management objectives. The lessons offered in the webinar, including how to tailor outreach efforts to resonate with landowners’ motivations or concerns, will be useful during field seasons shaped by COVID-19. A recording of the webinar can be found on the Guild’s webinar library webpage , or directly on the Guild’s YouTube Channel.

In late April and early May, the Guild’s Amanda Mahaffey partnered with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Tish Carr Consulting, and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association to offer a virtual workshop on Women’s Chainsaw Safety Fundamentals . This was an interactive webinar that took place on two consecutive Saturday mornings and was conceived when an in-person, weekend-long chainsaw workshop planned for the spring had to be postponed due to Covid-19. While the virtual workshop in no way replaced the in-person training (no chainsaws were started!), it provided an introduction to chainsaw basics such as PPE, parts of a saw, safe posture, steps to starting a saw, and safety planning. These fundamentals will provide a foundation once we’re able to resume in-person workshops. Taking it online also made the training accessible to some participants with small children who would not have been able to devote a weekend to an in-person training!

An ongoing conversation among Women Owning Woodlands leaders considered how to re-imagine women woodland owner outreach in an era of social distancing. In late March, a virtual meeting brought together 30 WOW leaders from across the country to discuss ideas and steps being taken to navigate the shift online brought on by the pandemic. The WOW team is planning a follow-up meeting to explore new ideas and hear what has been working well as WOW leaders work to maintain engagement of women woodland owners.

In the western US, the fire season is adding a new stress to the pandemic. The US Forest Service has released a statement on their approach to keeping communities and fire fighters safe this season . The Guild’s Sam Berry and Gabe Kohler interviewed Jon Boe to get a more in-depth view over how Covid-19 will affect the fire season. One of the important take-home messages is that for anyone living in a fire-adapted ecosystem, it is especially important to prepare for wildfire and reduce the threat to your home . At the same time, our National Forests are already seeing increased use and some irresponsible behavior adding to the wildfire threat. For example, despite a ban on campfires in the Santa Fe National Forest, fire patrols on the first weekend in May reported 11 abandoned campfires. The Guild’s Mike Lynch helped lead a webinar that looked at the 2019 Fire Season and the outlook for 2020 in the Southwest , which includes a discussion of fire management in the time of Covid-19.

The pandemic, social distancing measures, and economic uncertainty are forcing changes in all aspects of our work. During this time, it is reassuring to see Guild members and staff responding with creativity and resilience. Thank you for all you do, and for supporting the Guild in “putting the forest first” while staying safe and healthy.

Advancing the Practice of CWPPs – Risk Modeling

Tue, 12 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Corrina Marshall

The Forest Stewards Guild has worked with many communities in New Mexico and Colorado to produce Community Wildfire Protection Plans. For those who are unfamiliar with this type of planning document, it is a program that began in 2003, authorized and defined in Title I of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) passed by Congress. The plans are intended to shape wildfire mitigation and planning priorities for communities in the wildland-urban interface. A major goal of the legislation, when passed in 2003, was to convene diverse local stakeholders and interests to make decisions about their mutual concerns over public safety, communication, and natural resource management.

For the initial round of development, many communities were tackling their wildfire problem for the first time and began by defining their local boundaries and formally identifying locations of great risk. With many original plans being severely outdated, the Forest Stewards Guild has worked to update these documents to reflect changes in wildfire risk and community composition. Guild staff identified that clear plans outlining specific risks and locations for mitigation were lacking, and that the analyses completed on wildfire behavior did not capture all risk factors.

The planning process for previous CWPPs, in general, tended to not result in enough action on the ground, failed to engage local community members in the planning process, or analyze the complexity of wildfire risk. For this installment of ATL, we would like to share about our improvements to wildfire risk analysis. This is done by spatial analysis and wildfire behavior modeling based on vegetation data – that part is not new. What we have added to the CWPP process are products like evacuation modeling, post-fire erosion modeling, radiant heat & short- and long-range spotting potential, and treatment suitability analysis. A few examples below show the outputs from these models, a clear indication of where high priority treatments exist.

The model above shows us where evacuation congestion is likely to occur during a wildfire-influenced evacuation event. This can influence emergency response planners in knowing where to direct people, and land managers to better mitigate forest structure in areas where residents could possibly be stuck during a wildfire. Additional analyses show likely amount of time for certain neighborhoods to evacuate, and identify where wildland fuels against roadways will create non-survivable conditions, based upon flame length.

This information in Figure 2 is absolutely vital to this fire protection district to predict where catastrophic wildfire will have the most impact to watersheds and, in the case of this district, drinking water for a major municipality. This informs where wildland vegetation treatment should be prioritized to lessen the impacts of erosion, and if a wildfire is to occur, this can be a guide for prioritizing post-fire actions.

The model in Figure 3 above is based on research done at the University of Alberta, defining radiant heat exposure to structures at 30 meters, short-range ember exposure at 100 meters, and long-range ember exposure at 500 meters from vegetation capable of producing those fire effects (Beverly et al., 2010). This helps districts and residents understand where homes are most likely to ignite from wildfire and where defensible space and home hardening practices should be highest priority.

Robust spatial analysis can predict where fire is likely to occur and how intense it is likely to be. This information, in coordination with local stakeholder input, really shows where priorities are on the landscape and where implementation is possible.

With these additions to the CWPP process, we hope to influence more effective wildfire mitigation and continue to develop new strategies to aid human and ecological communities in becoming fire adapted. In future articles, we will discuss strategies to improve community engagement and solidify actionable mitigation planning.

Half-Earth: Reflections from graduate student Eric Hagen

Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

“Half-Earth:” A wake up call, and the amount of land that needs to be dedicated to nature in order to save the majority of species on Earth from extinction. But how do we do it? And how do we both inspire and empower people to act effectively? I argue that we do it through nurturing relationships with the natural world, and simultaneously equipping people with the tools of modern conservation science. Expert authors of the UN-sponsored 2019 global biodiversity assessment tell us that conservation efforts of the past century are ultimately failing ( read a summary release by Nature ). Without transformational changes at the global scale the Earth faces the extinction of up to a million species, many within decades.

Here in Vermont, we have the knowledge and the tools needed to coordinate effective biodiversity conservation across the entire state, while also keeping our working forests working. But these tools aren’t yet fully utilized by government officials or the public.

For my master’s work at the University of Vermont, I partnered with the Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth to create a collection of web-based articles. These feature conservation tools and concepts embedded into stories about local people and their relationships to the natural world. I wanted to capture the emotional connection to the land that many of us feel but don’t always talk about, and tie in concepts like restoration silviculture and large landscape conservation design. My hope is these stories can be used by conservation organizations, schools, and foresters to teach about concepts that are vital to biodiversity conservation and good land management, and ultimately inspire more people to build healthy and informed relationships with the world.

One story, titled An Unusual Forest features Chittenden County Forester Ethan Tapper and his land in Vermont. “When I first bought this property, when I was laying out the timber harvest, I encountered this young bear. It was in July, and it was one of those males that overwinters with his mom its first winter and then got kicked out the following June. These young bears are like teenagers: they’re kind of dumb, or foolish, and brave, and also relatively small.” – Ethan Tapper

So, Ethan was marking trees when he heard a sound. He looked up and saw the young bear, and it immediately took off. Naturally, Ethan followed after it, all the way up a ridge where it started to climb a tree…

Read the rest of Ethan’s story. Learn about forest management, and Ethan’s relationship with wildlife and the land.

This May I’m graduating from the Field Naturalist Program, a Masters of Science program at the University of Vermont. We study interdisciplinary field science and science communication, and I’ve taken classes in botany, mycology, geology, silviculture, data analysis, and GIS. As Field Naturalists, we learn how to read the landscape, understand its pathways of regeneration, and communicate what we’ve learned with a variety of audiences – much the same as foresters. This fall I’m hoping to take my skills and experience as close as I can to Vancouver, BC, to support my partner as she begins her own master’s program there. My long-term goal is to work in restoration silviculture and landscape scale biodiversity conservation planning in Wisconsin, my home state.

Editor’s note: check out all eight story maps Eric created , including one about him , and share them if you like! A big thanks to Eric for sharing his efforts with us, and for being a Guild student member!

Connecting our community

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Colleen Robinson

Our small world feels a bit more expanded with every passing day. Certainly, the “small world” reality contributes to the pandemic-level spread of Covid-19. In the weeks since, our daily distancing from in-person social interactions has given me a sense of space between all touch points in my life and world as well. It’s a strange juxtaposition as many of us can still pop on the computer and “connect,” yet are out of physical reach. The knowledge that the entire world is experiencing at least some similar challenges at the same time, can shorten the emotional distance between many of us, while so many still suffer far too many precious hours all alone or without critical support. I am inspired by the large scale, radical act of love I am witnessing as we sequester ourselves to care for others. And as in some cases, we expose ourselves to care for others.

No matter how you are weathering this storm, we all can benefit from community now. Built into the Forest Stewards Guild is a strong, supportive community that can pull together and support each other. We are working hard to find ways to help us all stay connected and hopeful.

1. Virtual Guild Gatherings! Just like we do in the woods, we can come together online or on the phone and share our thoughts, challenges, ideas, solutions, and results with each other. By soaking in other people’s perspectives and stories and sharing our own, we offer new possibilities. At the very least, we offer a sense of true empathy or understanding.

Our inaugural virtual Guild Gathering is open to members next Tuesday, April 21 at Noon PT, 1:00 p.m. MT, 2:00 p.m. CT, and 3:00 p.m. ET. We will spend some time sharing what inspires us and then break into small virtual groups to discuss specific topics of concern in more depth, related to our lives in forest stewardship. If this gathering proves helpful, we will host more and welcome others outside of our current membership. We may host gatherings specifically for students, or regions, or weekly gatherings to grapple with various topics. So far, these topics are potential discussion points:

Ways consulting foresters are adapting to social distancing,
Approaches to connecting with landowners during a pandemic,
Signs that Covid-19 may be forcing land sales,
The impact on market prices now and in the near future,
Safe approaches to working in the woods during a pandemic,
Ways you’re preparing for fire season,
Other things you are doing to respond.

2. If virtual gathering just really isn’t your thing, we also welcome emails from you. Please share adaptations you’ve made and the ways you are building resilience personally or in your community. Also include topics you’d like to see addressed in the virtual gatherings and documented afterwards. Include your ideas for us, or questions or needs you may have that this community could help resolve. Email membership@forestguild.org anytime and we’ll find ways to share your contributions and loop you in if you are able.

3. When we have material to share, we will create a resources page on our website. FAQs, insights, regional forestry information, tips and tricks from the field (or the home office), and more can be posted to help our community stay informed about the things for which we have unique expertise among us. Already, we have posted a Wildfire Resilience and Covid-19 webpage on our site, which shares information and resources from around the country.

The Guild is a powerhouse when it comes to like-minded forestry and allied professionals providing support and understanding in places where we may have thought no one else understands. But something even bigger exists here, and we see it in the Guild history we celebrate now in our organization’s 25th birthday year. From these like-minds and yet varied perspectives, we can create something new. Solutions, support, or perhaps even a meaningful shift of the status quo. Just by gathering, opening up in a trusted community, and sharing what we know to be true, including the “silver linings,” who knows what we might discover?

Continued work to support FSC controlled wood standard

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

As we described in the November issue of Across the Landscape , the Guild has been an active participant in FSC’s controlled wood risk assessment and mitigation . Since then we’ve expanded our education and outreach efforts.

The Guild is working with companies in the Pacific Northwest to share information about the importance of old growth forests, biodiversity in the Klamath-Siskiyou Region, and the threat posed by conversion of forest to other uses. We have hosted an array of webinars on these topics. We started with a discussion of old growth forests and the ecology and management of dead wood ( watch the webinar recording ). Resources are collected on our website’s old growth page . We’ve produced two handouts for the FSC companies working with the Guild on coastal old growth forests and those in the fire adapted forests of the intermountain west. As companies share these with clients, procurement foresters, and landowners, they’ll be sharing our vision for ecological forestry.

The next topic we tackled was the threat of conversion of forests to other land uses. Again, we’ve produced a webinar ( see the recording here ), a website with additional resources, and a handout FSC companies can use to educate their partners. The effort to limit the conversion of forests to other uses links this work to other efforts such as the Foresters for the Birds program and the use of carbon markets to incentivize forest ownership (see the up-coming webinar on carbon markets ). Currently, we are working to produce outreach materials focused on the biodiversity in the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion. The geologic, topographic, and climatic complexity of this regions drives a diversity of forest types and habitats, which are threatened by past fire suppression, mining, road building, grazing, and management for monodominant stands. Future webinars on the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion will also be open to all Guild members.

Written by Zander Evans

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the timing of certain activities connected to the Guild’s work on FSC specified risk topics in the Southeast. We’ve postponed spring 2020 events focused on late successional bottomland hardwoods in the Lower Mississippi Valley in Arkansas and Mississippi until early-mid October 2020. An event focused on the mixed mesophytic forests of the Appalachians originally scheduled for spring of 2020 in West Virginia is postponed until at least late June 2020. For both critical biodiversity areas, we will be hosting a webinar discussion and producing outreach materials for distribution to loggers, landowners, and foresters. Even as Covid-19 adds to the challenges of working to reduce the risk of controlled wood, this partnership with companies committed to environmentally sound, socially beneficial, and economically prosperous forest management continues to be an effective way to advance our shared goals.

Fire response during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

First responders from every jurisdiction are making plans for how to fight wildfires while keeping firefighters safe and healthy this year during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the highest level the National Interagency Fire Center has convened three regional Area Command teams to develop plans and direction for fire response. In the Southwest, where fire season has already begun, agencies have had to adjust their firefighting tactics. While there are changes in store for all agencies, the local firefighters at volunteer, city, and county fire departments, that we rely on for most fire suppression near homes, may be the most impacted. They are typically all-hazard organizations that also respond to frontline medical incidents, and the Covid-19 crisis is likely having an outsized impact on them.

Most importantly in all of this is, while we can expect our first responders to do everything they can to suppress wildfires, it’s even more important than normal for all of us to do what we can to set them up for success. We can assist firefighters by preparing our homes and our families for wildfire and preventing human-caused ignitions.

The pandemic will also have some direct impacts on forest management. While many practices are ongoing in some fashion, this spring many, including the Forest Stewards Guild, have suspended most prescribed burn operations. This is to limit the smoke impacts on communities and individuals that may be suffering from the respiratory impacts of Covid-19, as well as promoting social distancing for firefighters. This loss of burn opportunities will set many agencies back in the forest treatment and fuel mitigation work they had planned for this year, but it was a necessary decision.

Additionally, this spring some agencies have issued preliminary guidance to suppress all fires while they are small, where in past years there has been some discretion to manage wildfires and let them grow in a natural way where and when appropriate (see the letter from the USFS Chief ). There is speculation that fires that do escape control may be managed by point protection. This means most time and energy is put into in protecting values such as homes while the rest of the fire that is in the backcountry is managed more minimally as staffing and social distancing allows.

While it is yet to be seen how fire suppression will play out this year, this is a dynamic issue that will continue to develop and has already changed the way the Forest Stewards Guild is working. Right now, we are amplifying messaging about fire preparedness to support first responders, and we are shifting our prescribed fire resources to planning for the fall when we hope to be supporting good fire throughout the country again.

On the Guild’s new Wildfire Resilience and Covid-19 webpage, we list several news articles and resources about how firefighters and agencies are preparing.

Written by Sam Berry.

HEPA Air Cleaner Loan Program – Helping communities be more prepared for smoke

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Since 2018 the Forest Stewards Guild has been running a HEPA Air Cleaner Loan program in Northern New Mexico to support individuals during smoke impacts from fires. Although at first glance this seems like a program that a public health organization should take on instead of a forestry-oriented one, it fits perfectly into our mission of building Fire Adapted Communities, that guides most of our work in the Southwest. Under the right conditions we view prescribed fire, managed wildfires, and some of the inevitable wildfires as crucial to restoring the function and health of our fire adapted forests. Accordingly, our long-term goal with this program is to assist communities that live in fire adapted forests to be prepared to deal with smoke from these fires as well.

Although our program is relatively small in scale, our program has been successful at providing the support we can to the individuals that need it. An unanticipated success of this program is that we’ve also been able to communicate with a new segment of communities about the reasons we’re using prescribed fire. Another success has been partnering with local partners to run the programs. This has allowed them to conduct their own specialized outreach and creatively implement the program to fit their needs. We have also partnered with Winix USA the company whose filters we use, to further support our program.

This recent blog post on the Fire Adapted Learning Network Blog page goes into much greater detail about the background, challenges, and successes of the program. Also feel free to contact me at sam@forestguild.org if you have any questions or would like to set up your own program.

Written by Sam Berry

Celebrating two women in forestry during Women’s History Month

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Two women, Amanda Mahaffey and Barrie Brusila, who have been critical to the success of the Forest Stewards Guild, will be receiving awards in the near future for their outstanding work in forestry. The New England Society of American Foresters will share their own announcement and we don’t want to steal their flame. Instead, as we prepare to celebrate several individuals and their contributions to forestry and forestry programming, this article takes a closer look at how, not surprisingly, these women are both Guild members and have shared values that prove essential for our world.

Response : When I was a forestry student, I took the summer between the two years of the master’s program to create my own internship. I have been an avid supporter of Guild internship opportunities ever since. I was fortunate to spend half the summer tagging along with Bruce Spencer, then the chief forester at Massachusetts’ Quabbin Reservoir, who taught me how to paint trees with thoughtfulness behind each decision for the site, silviculture, regeneration, logging equipment, and watershed protection. Bruce introduced me to friends of his through the Guild in Maine, and I happily spent the remainder of the summer tagging along with them and learning about boots-on-the-ground forestry from a variety of wonderful, insightful foresters.

Question : Amanda, you’ve said that Barrie’s mentorship was instrumental in shaping your career. How so?

Response : Barrie was one of the first people Bruce introduced me to, and I’m happy to say that we’ve been friends ever since. Barrie doesn’t discriminate for man, woman, or dog; anyone is welcome to put in a good day’s work and learn from her in the field. Through the years of our friendship, I’ve come to appreciate Barrie’s dedication to educating the public, bringing new foresters into the fold, and putting the forest first in the face of the many challenges for forest managers in Maine. Barrie and many other strong women are inspirations to me.

Response : I have always had a desire to work with colleagues who share similar ethics and values. The Guild gives us the collective voice and platform to share our knowledge, skills, and advocacy with the wider world. I enjoy spending time with and learning from other on-the ground foresters with paint on their boots.

Question : Barrie, you’ve said before that you are pleased to see younger people and the diversity of interests and skills they bring to the forest. Tell us how you have helped support the next generation of stewards throughout your career.

Response : I’ve presented to and led woods tours for many groups of young people over the years. I always encourage them to consider forestry as a career, especially the girls and young women. Students have job shadowed with me. A recent forestry graduate is now interning with me, working towards earning her forestry license here in Maine. I’m very proud of the 3 accomplished foresters who I encouraged at the beginning of their careers, Amanda being one of them!

Question : Amanda and Barrie, we are facing lots of unknowns in today’s world of climate change impacts, invasive species spread, and polarizing policies. What do you say to those working in forestry and other natural resources fields about how to proceed?

Responses : I say, go for it! Don’t be afraid to try something. The uncertainty of climate change and the political climate can be debilitating. Our duty as foresters is to try to make decisions grounded in science and reality and do what we can to leave options for the landowner and for the next forester for years to come. – Amanda

I think a lot about creating resiliency in the forests I manage. Encouraging a diversity of native tree, shrub, and herbaceous species, tree sizes, and ages are always goals. Controlling invasive species is a steady and increasing job. Managing our forests sustainably and using wood products locally are certainly not new objectives, but they’re worth repeating and supporting with public policies. -Barrie

Thank you both for your time, and for all you do for our forests.

Question: Amanda, you are currently Deputy Director of the Forest Stewards Guild. Tell us about how you got here. Specifically, what are the personal values and experiences that led you to this point?

Question: Barrie, you are a founding member of the Forest Stewards Guild. Tell us more about what inspired you to work with others to create this community of forest professionals.

Collaboration to advance fire science and practice

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

The Forest Stewards Guild has worked with the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) for more than a decade and our collaboration has grown from one research project to a nation-wide engagement on outreach, education, research, and policy. The federal agencies involved with wildfire response and fire management created JFSP to solve the pressing fire research questions land managers asked. JFSP has taken seriously the need to engage scientists and managers in two-way dialog, ensuring that scientists are asking the most pressing questions facing land managers and, at the same time, mangers are able to access and put into practice the best available science. This two-way connection between science and management mirrors the Guild’s approach to science-based stewardship.

In 2008, the Guild took up JFSP’s challenge to understand the methods, costs, and obstacles to removing low valued wood from the forest in restoration or fuel reduction efforts. The Guild offered the insights of members across the county to provide a nationwide view of biomass removal published in the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy ( DOI:10.1111/j.1757-1707.2009.01013.x ). Later research projects focused on synthesizing research in ways that land stewards could put into practice. For example, the 2011 Guide to fuels treatment practices for mixed conifer forests , combined on-the-ground experience captured in interviews with nearly 400 research papers to provide practical advice for foresters working in the mixed conifer forests of the Southwest and California.

The Guild’s position as a non-profit has enabled us to contribute on the policy side as well. When JFSP was put on the budget chopping block, we worked hard to educate legislators about the benefits JFSP provides to land managers (and hence the communities and forests they steward). Often this policy maker education is in partnership with our networks such as the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition. In fact, we are currently one of many groups calling for the full funding for JFSP (add your voice here: https://forms.gle/vpipt4daEZzuvaR67 ). The Guild’s deep engagement with JFSP projects demonstrates the positive effect the Guild has had on sharing science and advancing the practice of land stewardship – an outsized impact for a comparatively small organization.

Written by Zander Evans

To better support the two-way dialog between managers and researchers, JFSP started a knowledge exchange network. The Guild has been a key player in these networks from the beginning. The Fire Science Exchanges break down barriers between managers, practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and others who create or use fire science. The Guild was part of the team that built the Southwest exchange more than 10 years ago and continues to play a major role in developing webinars, working papers, field trips, conferences, and workshops (see the Southwest Fire Science Consortium website for more details). The Guild helped develop a similar exchange in the Northeast (see the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange ) and has created connections between researchers and land managers (including many Guild members) across the region. As the Guild’s staff in Colorado has grown, so has our participation in the Southern Rockies Fire Science Exchange. Of course, individual Guild members participate in JFSP knowledge exchanges across the country too.

The Guild works with RVCC

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT

A central part of the Guild’s mission is to promote ecologically, economically, and socially responsible land stewardship. Policy at the federal, state, or local level is often the most effective tool. In the world of policy, the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC) is essential for the Guild to stay on top of important issues and make our voice heard. RVCC is committed to finding and promoting solutions through collaborative, place-based work that recognizes the inextricable link between the long-term health of the land and the well-being of rural communities. Their mission is well aligned with the Guild’s.

RVCC staff and the like-minded organizations that make up the coalition, work together to stay informed on policy and share insights on federal, state, and even some local-level issues. Carefully constructed RVCC policy statements and sign-on letters give the Guild a chance to raise our voice on issues that matter to us. For example, a recent RVCC letter to the US Forest Service called attention to the importance of community driven, collaboratively developed solutions in the context of proposed changes to the Roadless Rule in Alaska. Similarly, RVCC provided useful comments on the proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The Guild’s participation in RVCC is complimented by our Membership and Policy Council (MPC), which is the conduit for member input on policy. MPC deliberations help clarify issues, guide the Guild, and can provide feedback to networks like RVCC. Currently the MPC’s ideas and cautions are helping to inform another policy network the Guild is part of called the Forest-Climate Working Group .

Its critical to have policy and collaboration top of mind and in the toolbox, along with our science, boots-on-the-ground management, and all the other disciplines that contribute to effective land stewardship. We are honored to partner with RVCC.

Written by Zander Evans

In addition to policy, RVCC plays and important role in sharing best practices across organizations in our field. For example, the Guild’s Southwest Director, Matt Piccarello, participated in a peer learning exchange focused on forest workforces and community-based organizations. Twenty-one participants from 11 organizations and five states took part in the event to identify actionable policy and practice improvements, and enhance connections among entities with similar issues. Another recent RVCC publication highlights some of the Guild’s work on fostering the next generation of forest stewards. The publication titled, Working Together to Increase the Pace and Scale of Prescribed Fire , described how the Guild and partners used a variety of mechanisms to align organizational goals, build trust across agencies and organizations, and combine resources and skills, which ultimately resulted in the trained personnel needed to work across all lands in New Mexico.

The Guild Builds New Wildfire Career Pipeline

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Meg Matonis

The drip torches are lit, and the Forest Stewards Guild (the Guild) is blazing the path toward a more progressive fire management community. The U.S. Air Force awarded the Guild a contract with multi-year potential to place wildland fire operations technicians at three installations across the country—Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, and Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The U.S. Air Force Wildland Fire Branch (AFWFB) engages in wildfire prevention, fuels management, and wildfire suppression activities. The goals are to minimize disruptions caused by wildfires on training and testing operations and support natural resource management objectives.

The Guild’s partnership with AFWFB furthers our vision of an inclusive fire program that provides training and employment opportunities and boosts prescribed fire capacity. According to Jennifer Mueller, Guild Training Specialist, “We are building an ecosystem of fire practitioners. We introduce young adults to wildland fire through hands-on training and offer them gainful employment in a supportive environment.” The Guild participates in two career pipelines for young adults from communities that are traditionally under-served and underrepresented. These programs are GulfCorps in the southeast and the Forest Stewards Youth Corps in New Mexico. Jennifer, Tyler Gilbert (Guild Logistics Technician), and Cheyanne Quigley (Guild Technician) led wildfire training for 114 individuals at GulfCorps in fall 2019, and the Guild hired three GulfCorps alumni for the AFWFB project.

The Guild will empower new AFWFB fire operations technicians with training opportunities to develop technical skills around fuels mitigation, prescribed fire and wildfire suppression, as well as crucial soft skills like conflict resolution, leadership, and selfcare. Wildland Fire Support Module (WSM) leaders—employees with the Center for Environmental Management Military Lands, Bureau of Land Management, or University of Montana Center for Integrated Research on the Environment—will oversee daily on-base operations of the AFWFB crews.

The AFWFB crews are forming cohesive teams and getting dirt under their fingernails. According to Natalie Fyffe, AFWFB fire operations technician at the Joint Base San Antonio, “I have been blown away by the supportive community, academic encouragement, and professional connections the Guild and the Airforce Wildland Fire Module have provided me with. The incredible wealth of knowledge and open-door working environment that has been established by our module leaders has astronomically inspired and will continue to impact my experience as I explore and build my career in wildland fire management.”

Interning with the Guild

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Editor’s note: The Guild partners with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to provide students with hands-on experiences to learn how forestry and wildlife management work together on public lands. The 26-week positions are supervised and based at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in McBee, South Carolina. Casandra is our most recent intern, whose enthusiasm shines through. We are offering a 12-week summer internship opportunity in 2020. Applications are being accepted now!

I never realized how blessed I was to be born in a small valley town beneath the Rocky Mountains of Utah, until I saw how it shaped my adult life. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been amazed by the natural world around me. I loved to explore the tallest branches of oak trees and scurry through the pine needles on the forest floor. The songs of birds in the morning were my summer alarm clock and the blanket of snow in the winter was my playground. I fell in love with creation, so I knew from a young age I wanted to spend the rest of my life working in it.

My next adventure after graduation was joining the Forest Stewards Guild’s team as a forestry and wildlife intern. I was given the unique experience of working at two National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) in both Georgia and South Carolina for a total of six months. Starting out at the Piedmont NWR in Georgia, I jumped right into forest inventory using FFI. I learned basic forester skills, tree species, timber marking, and proper data collection techniques. Some other fun activities were frequent bird surveys, Red Cockaded Woodpecker peeping, herbicide treatment of invasive species, and three annual butterfly counts. I met some amazing people who helped teach and encourage me during my three months at Piedmont.

Though I had settled into Piedmont with good friends, I had to move on to the Carolina Sandhills NWR for my next adventure. Even though the two NWR are both part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service system, there were plenty of differences between the two places. At the Carolina Sandhills NWR I was able to finish up some of the forest inventory left from the summer using a Tremble unit. I was also able to learn more about the computer software involved with forestry such as T-Cruise and Arc GIS. One of the most exciting experiences I had was becoming re-certified as a faller 3 with a chainsaw. This allowed me to assist with timber thinning, removing hazard trees, and even the installation of Red Cockaded Woodpecker cavity inserts. For wildlife, I assisted with both the dove and deer hunt check stations and rode along on a cubby count.

My next adventure in life is unknown. I married a Soldier on January 4 ^th , 2020, and our journey has many mysteries in it (as every military family’s does). I am trying to continue working in the natural resource field as we take our next step in life by reporting to Fort Benning, Georgia this summer. My goal is to get my master’s degree in forestry with hopes of being able to do silvicultural research in the future. Each morning when I wake up, I want to know that my day will be filled with activities that help better the natural world that we live in. I could never imagine doing anything else.

Editor’s note: To help recruit well-deserving and potentially interested students for our 12-week summer internship in 2020 , or if you have questions about the internship, please contact Mike Lynch at mike@forestguild.org or 608-449-0647.

Written by Casandra Downs, 2019 intern

In 2015 I left Utah to attend Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, Wisconsin. During my summers, I had the opportunity to work for the U.S. Forest Service as a resource technician and a wildland firefighter, and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a biological science technician. While attending classes, I was a pathway student for the U.S. Geological Survey working as a hydrotech for two and a half years. I kept myself busy and I enjoyed every moment of it. I graduated in December of 2018, leaving just enough time to meet my now husband during my senior year.

I really enjoyed the unique experience of working at two great NWRs. Not only did it give me the experience of working in two different environments, but I got to be introduced to two different skill sets, two different ways to run the same organization, and two groups of amazing people. I will never forget the memories that were forged through my time working with the Forest Stewards Guild. I have made connections with people that will assist my future career and lifelong friendships with the people who took the time to help assist and train me to be a better person.

Guild expands support for wildlife forestry in bottomlands

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Dakota Wagner and Zander Evans

In partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Guild has recently started on two new projects in the bottomland hardwood forests of the south.

Bottomland and coastal wetland forests are a dominant feature in the US South, accounting for nearly 35 million acres—only half of their historic coverage. On top of that, one third of currently listed endangered species are dependent on wetlands, making the conservation of these forests a national priority. Most remaining bottomland hardwood forests are privately owned, making private forest landowners key stakeholders for enhancing or restoring bottomland forests across the South.

These projects build off the Guild’s ongoing efforts to “move-the-needle” on the standard for forest management in bottomland hardwood forests across the South. It complements our previous report, “Ecological Forestry Practices for Bottomland Hardwood Forests of the Southeastern U.S.”, and aligns with our involvement on the steering committee of the Wetland Forest Initiative.

As part of the LMAV project, the Guild hosted a learning exchange in Baton Rouge, November of 2019. Energized by the 2018 bottomland hardwood learning exchange in Georgia, LMAV landowners were clamoring for another event closer to home. Thanks to LDWF’s gracious agreement to host, the Baton Rouge learning exchange took form. The combination of alluring wetland forests and lineup of top-notch speakers brought nearly 50 natural resource scientists and land managers together to discuss both science and practice.

most up-to-date research pertaining to wildlife forestry and was followed by the opportunity for participants to get their boots wet and see how to make wildlife forestry happen on-the-ground.

Although the enchantment with bottomland forests is what originally drew people to the event, the real power of the exchange was in the connections made between the diverse group of participants. Mingling state and federal agencies, private consultants, and forest product companies together in one room meant conversations were based in science and focused on changing practices to best achieve ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry.

To make all this good work happen, the Guild hired Dakota Wagner on as the Southeast Region Coordinator. Recently graduated from Warren Wilson College, this isn’t her first time working with the Guild—in the summer of 2018 she moved all the way out to Santa Fe, NM and interned in the Southwest office. Currently, she is working in our Asheville office with Nick Biemiller, our Southeast Region Director. Together they hope to continue moving forward on great projects like this one!

Guild staff look forward to year ahead

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Amanda Mahaffey and Colleen Robinson

In December, Guild staff convened from all corners of the country for a two-day retreat designed to build staff cohesion and create the space for important, team-building conversations needed to set us up for success in 2020 and beyond. From Maine and New Mexico, North Carolina and Oregon, Wisconsin and Minnesota, we descended on the Loveland office to all meet face-to-face for the first time. We enjoyed some goofy fun and a lot of hard work together.

It was an intense couple of days with an ambitious agenda and each staff member taking the lead on a topic with the group. The opportunity to speak our successes, challenges, goals, constraints, and ideas with incredibly creative and talented minds all in one room was powerful. Strategies came forward that were previously unseen. New perspectives laid the groundwork for improved systems and better understanding and communication within our programs. Prioritizing goals in context for our 25th anniversary year and beyond got a stronger-than-ever start collaboratively. We also fit in some social time cooking meals at the Air BnB, chatting with local Guild members and partners at a local brewhouse, and walking on the trails near the office. Overall, we felt energized by taking the time to meet in person and share the “spark” that fires us up in our work for the Forest Stewards Guild.

We look forward to a productive year of engaging with our members, partners, and fellow forest stewards in 2020! This is the Guild’s 25th anniversary, and we celebrate everything and everyone who makes us who we are, collectively.

We began with the Guild tradition of an introduction circle. We lined up in order of tenure on staff at the Guild and worked our way around the circle, sharing our stories of how we each connected with the Guild. It was clear that the “spark” that inspires our members also inspired our staff to join the Guild team. The work of the Guild is different from that of many environmental NGOs. Our ecological focus in boots-on-the-ground management attracted many of our staff to the Guild. This introduction circle also revealed the timeline of growth in the Guild. A few years ago, nearly all staff were based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Today, we have teams in the Southwest, Intermountain West, and Southeast, and regional staff in the Pacific West, Lake States, and Northeast. Many of our staff are fire-trained, which reflects the current national need to restore fire to fire-adapted ecosystems, including millions of acres of forest stewarded by Guild members and our colleagues at work across the landscape.

Forest Climate Adaptation Needs Assessment

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Amanda Mahaffey

As we grow our knowledge about climate change impacts, forest stewards increasingly seek resources for adapting forests to these changes. The Forest Stewards Guild (FSG) and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) listened to forest managers across New England to assess the current information and tools needed to ensure our forests’ resiliency. This effort was led by Guild members Maria Janowiak (NIACS), Amanda Mahaffey (FSG), and Christopher Riely (Sweet Birch Consulting, LLC). Results of the work are published in a new report, Moving the Needle: A Review of Needs to Increase Climate Adaptation in the Forests of New England .

We heard a range of nuanced questions on climate impacts to tree species dynamics, wildlife, forest hydrology, invasives, and human communities. We also heard about barriers to adaptation, the greatest of which is the overwhelming uncertainty about what the future may bring. From listening to the community of practice, we synthesized some key steps for “moving the needle” forward on forest climate adaptation:

Manage in the face of uncertainty
Expand information resources to inform decisions
Prioritize risks and management actions
Address barriers to sustainable forest management
Learn from each other through communities of practice

While this report was being developed, the authors were also busy working with partners to take some of those action steps. Here are ways you can be involved and benefit:

Forest Adaptation Webinar Series . Sign up for webinar presentations pairing forest managers with scientists on a range of forest climate adaptation topics!
Maine FCCI Forum February 12 . The Forest Stewards Guild is partnering with the University of Maine’s Forest Climate Change Initiative to offer a one-day forum highlighting the priority needs of researchers, foresters, and other natural resource professionals.
Southern New England workgroup . An energetic collaboration of natural resource professionals is networking to share information, communication resources, and other regional tools to help advance forest climate adaptation in southern New England. Contact Guild member John Scanlon for more information. john.scanlon@state.ma.us
Vermont EAB forums . Numerous partners in Vermont offered a series of educational forums on managing ash in the context of the emerald ash borer, or EAB. Contact Keith Thompson Keith.Thompson@vermont.gov or Pieter Van Loon Pieter@vlt.org for more information.
Oak resiliency . The Forest Stewards Guild is partnering with Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut on a USDA Forest Service-funded project on increasing resiliency in southern New England’s oak forests. Contact Christopher Riely christopher@sweetbirchconsulting.com for more information.

Bringing it all together on Wind Mountain

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Matt Piccarello

Work at the Guild long enough and you stop seeing any one project in isolation. You can’t help but see every relationship and every treated acre as the sum of years of stacked effort and accomplishments. While this phenomenon is not unique to any one Guild project, it was particularly apparent to me on the Wind Mountain prescribed fire in October where years of work culminated in getting fire on the ground and the entire Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) Fall Fire & Fuels program on the fire line.

Since 2011, six different funding streams have been used to accomplish mechanical thinning and aspen fencing on Wind Mountain, which includes private, New Mexico State Trust, and Bureau of Land Management land. Seven different contractors, agencies, and organizations conducted thinning and fencing work that prepped the areas we burned in 2019. In the middle of all that was a managed wildfire that burned into previously treated acres, now with reduced fuel loads. In 2016, the Guild was awarded a three-year CFRP grant Implementation at Cerro del Aire: Preparing the multi-jurisdictional landscape for fire, which proved to be the “glue” needed to finish prepping a significant enough portion of the mountain to return fire at a landscape scale.

Getting the FSYC program on the burn in the final year of the CFRP grant was not originally intended. FSYC crews typically work on Forest Service managed lands on the Ranger Districts where they are based. When a court ordered injunction halted all “timber management activities” on New Mexico’s National Forests, including prescribed fire, Guild staff scrambled to find opportunities for FSYC crews to participate in controlled burns. The injunction, for the Guild and FSYC, turned out to be an example of turning lemons into lemonade. Thanks to a good relationship with the state YCC program, built on over 20 years of successful projects, we were able to adjust our work plan and get the required signatures from land managers to include NM State Trust and BLM managed lands.

For the Guild’s Sam Berry, it was a rewarding experience to see FSYC crew members put all their training into practice. “The Wind Mountain prescribed burn was especially fulfilling for me because I saw the immediate results of all of the training and work the crews had done. In August Dave (Guild Director of Fire Management) and I led the firefighter training for 16 people who hadn’t met each other before and had varying levels of experience and knowledge about fire. By the end of the burn in October we had a highly operational crew that worked well together and were a huge asset to the burn.” Professionalism, working well as a team, following instructions, and exhibiting leadership are all skills that are best learned in practice. Yet despite this being the first time on the fireline for most FSYC crew members, they exhibited all the qualities of seasoned fire fighters.

When the Fall FSYC program was started in 2018, one of the primary goals was adding capacity to accomplish prescribed fires during a time when firefighters in New Mexico are either laid off for the season or fighting wildfires in the northwest. This goal was realized at Wind Mountain as most of the firefighters on the fireline were FSYC crew members. Gaining the trust of our federal partners that FSYC crews are a fire crew like any other and can help them accomplish their prescribed fire targets has taken time. Thankfully, we have seen a distinct shift from 2018 to 2019 as word has spread that the Guild has 16 fire fighters ready to be mobilized to help with controlled burning and FSYC crews saw more time on the fireline this year than last. That outcome too, is a result of stacked accomplishments. Without the experience of spending a week burning on Wind Mountain, FSYC crews may not have been as effective – or as welcome – on prescribed burns later in the season. But they earned a reputation for being a professional, safe, and effective resource. Many crew members were approached at the end of the Wind Mountain burn by BLM staff encouraging them to apply for positions next season. The Wind Mountain CFRP grant may have ended in 2019 but like the accomplishments that lead to the prescribed fire being a success, the experience for FSYC crew members will continue to pay dividends as they build their careers.

June 2020 conference in Quebec City promotes ecosystem restoration

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Michael Leff.

The conference is a joint effort sponsored by three organizations: the Canadian Land Reclamation Association (CLRA), the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS), and my favorite, the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER). (Full disclosure, I’m a conference organizer on the board of the SER New England Chapter.)

As most of you realize I’m sure, responsible and sustainable forestry practices aligned with the Forest Stewards Guild “Principles” are an essential component of the overall mix of restoration-related endeavors. And I imagine that many of you have thoughts and experiences to share regarding the connection, which could encompass anything from urban forestry to natural lands management, on small woodlots to vast tracts spanning international boundaries.

If you’d like to discuss any particulars, feel free to contact me at MLeff@ecologicalconnections.com. And come see Quebec City in the springtime!

If you’re looking for an excuse to visit Quebec City next spring (and you should be), I’ve got just the thing: the Quebec RE3 Conference “ From Reclaiming to Restoring to Rewilding ,” to be held June 7-11, 2020 – at the dawn of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration .

So now’s your chance. Check out the “ Call for Abstracts ” and consider submitting a presentation by the January 30 deadline. Full details on talks, workshops, field trips, registration, accommodations, and more are posted online at www.re3-quebec2020.org .

A review of “An Active Hand,” by Peter Bundy

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Long time Guild member, Peter Bundy, published a new book this fall that would make a great holiday gift for any forest steward. Sections of An Active Hand read like conversations I have at the end of a Guild Gathering when we gather in a local pub to ponder what we’ve learned on a woodlot. Peter tackles important, almost philosophical questions such as the meaning of sustainable forestry. For many guild members, parts of An Active Hand will be familiar. For example, his pithy description of species gradients that follow moisture and topography should be familiar to all foresters, even if the species examples are from a different region. By starting with fundamentals, Peter has provided a book that is accessible without a forestry degree, while the call to consider restoration forestry will engage even the most seasoned professional.

One of the Guild’s core principles is to value both the best available science and the insights of place-based experience – and to integrate the two. Every section of An Active Hand includes reflections of Peter’s long career in the woods. Discussions of how to implement restoration have details and clarity gained only from experience. Peter’s direct experience of disturbance – a devastating windstorm on his own property – gives his writing a heart that content from second-hand sources can’t achieve. At the same time, Peter is careful to ground his reflections on research. Throughout An Active Hand , there are pointers back to seminal works of science in our field.

It’s appropriate that An Active Hand has been released in time for the Guild’s 25th anniversary. The Guild has been part of Peter’s professional journey and there are parts of his book that recall conversation I can remember from the Guild meeting in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin in 2006 or Duluth, Minnesota in 2016. In the same way the book integrates a career of learning and practicing in the woods, we are looking forward to reflecting on the Guild’s 25th anniversary to reflect on lessons learned, particularly those that are clearer in hindsight. An Active Hand is conscious about using lessons learned to tackle the challenges of the future and I look forward to using the book to spark conversations with Guild members about the next 25 years.

At its core, An Active Hand is a call to rethink forest stewardship as restoration forestry. Peter makes an excellent case for casing the work many Guild members do as restoration forestry. Build on the same three legs that support the Guild – ecology, economy, and culture – restoration forestry provides a promising path forward even in the face of a changing climate and an influx of invasives.

Written by Zander Evans

Mitigating the risks of wood procurement

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

TheGuild has long been a member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and supports its mission to promote environmentally sound, socially beneficial, and economically prosperous management of the world’s forests. Many Guild members work for FSC certified companies or as part of the certification process. So, it is no surprise that the Guild has been an active participant in FSC’s controlled wood risk assessment and mitigation (see https://us.fsc.org/en-us/certification/controlled-wood/fsc-us-controlled-wood-national-risk-assessment-us-nra ).

The risk assessment is important for FSC certified companies that use the FSC Mix label. If they wish to control uncertified forest materials so that those materials may be mixed with FSC-certified materials and used in products that carry the FSC Mix label, they must incorporate the risk assessment into their due diligence system. In the US, some risk was identified for wood coming from forests in with high conservation values or from forests at risk of being converted to plantations or non-forest uses. Where these risks are relatively low, part of the control measures include education and outreach. This helps landowners, loggers, foresters, wood procurement agents, and others in the supply chain know more so they can avoid wood from high risk forests.

The Guild is also working with companies in the Pacific Northwest to share information about the importance of old growth fo rests, biodiversity in the Klamath-Siskiyou Region, and the threat posed by conversion of forest to other uses. The effort to limit the conversion of forests to other uses links this work to another project the Guild supports. The Foresters for the Birds project in Oregon helps landowners see their forests and forest management through the eyes of songbirds, which can in turn motivate them to work to maintain their property as healthy forest habitat.

While the Guild acknowledges the challenges of working to reduce the risk of controlled wood, we are excited about the opportunity to partner with companies committed to environmentally sound, socially beneficial, and economically prosperous forest management.

Written by Zander Evans.

Education and outreach are central to the Guild’s work so we’re partnering with several companies (some of which are highlighted in our list of organizational sponsors) to mitigate the risk of controlled wood. This mitigation can take several forms. In the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, we’re building on our bottomland hardwoods program to host learning exchanges for foresters and others. Learning exchanges are great way to share field experience and the latest science in a constructive, interactive forest setting.

Mike Lynch Promoted to Region Manager

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Mike has guided the Guild’s Lake State programfor nearly five years and expanded his leadership role as Fred Clark stepped down as Executive Director two years ago. Though he has been filling the role for a while, we are taking the opportunity to recognize Mike’s contributions with a promotion to Lake States Region Manager.

Mike Lynch fits in perfectly at the Guild. He is knowledgeable and humble, spending more time asking questions and listening than asserting his opinion. His experience farming in Minnesota adds important insights to his forest management and helps round out an understanding of landowner concerns.

Mike’s work with the Guild started with our in-depth report on the constraints facing loggers in Wisconsin. Since then he has ably added his skill to a wide range of projects. His knack for landscape-scale thinking made stewardship plans for the Cannon, Snake, and Zumbro watersheds more fully integrated. Mike led the certification of the parcels of forest land the Guild owns in Michigan and continues to steward them. His plans for the Guild lands include a crop tree release harvest as markets allow and development of a demonstration area for climate change adaptation forestry. Mike has helped private landowners nervous about cutting trees see opportunities for restoration and habitat improvement – a task that requires as much insight into personalities as northern hardwood stand dynamics.

Members in the Lake States know that Mike puts together great events. He has made a Guild Gathering at Kemp Station, Wisconsin a biennial tradition with a top-notch line up of speakers and field visits. His perseverance was crucial for pulling together the Birds, Bluffs, and Bottomlands Gathering in LaCrosse, Wisconsin after a government shutdown and flooding.

More recently Mike has been helping to increase awareness and implementation of prescribed fire as a tool in regional forest management and working with agency and non-profit partners to structure conversations, plans, policies, and implementable projects around the use of forests to sequester additional carbon as part of a comprehensive approach to climate change mitigation.

Under Mike’s guidance, the Guild’s work and support to members in the Lake States will continue to grow.

Written by Zander Evans.

Mike has made contributions across the Guild by pitching in wherever he is needed. He put his geospatial skills to use for reports on the fire season in the Southwest and provides a careful review of Guild plans, reports, and publications across the country. He has also helped to place and mentor Guild interns with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in South Carolina.

Reflections on community forestry in Vermont

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This past October our forestry program at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies was lucky enough to take a trip through Vermont. It was a chance to get out of the classroom and into the woods. After spending so much time thinking about abstract ideas and how to accomplish big picture environmental goals, this was a literal breath of fresh air. Myself and ten students left New Haven dark and early to go meet Guild member Alex Barrett from Longview Forest at an active harvest in Southern Vermont. Driving past old farm houses and big wolf trees on our way to the sale quickly reminded me of how much I loved Vermont. Growing up in Northeast Connecticut, I often took trips there as a child and ultimately moved to the state to attend the University of Vermont. Throughout the years I’ve built a strong connection to the State but have always struggled to articulate what exactly it was that created this sense of place I felt so aligned with. Maybe it was the mountains, their deep forests, world class beer & cheese, or just the friendly faces selling locally made goods. There’s really not a whole lot to dislike about Vermont.

My appreciation for the outdoors and rural communities has led me to study forestry, a profession I see as a way to help maintain healthy ecosystems and rural communities. Ironically, this pursuit brought me back to Connecticut. Pursuing my Masters has left me with all too little time to get back up north, so this trip was a chance to bridge two of my worlds.

First, it creates a requirement for enrolled landowners to practice forest management. Many landowners then find themselves with questions like, “What’s going on with my woods, what should I be doing?”, “Wait a minute, wont cutting down trees be bad for the forest?”, or “What’s the best thing I can do for my woods, what’s the best way to manage them?”. This program not only helps to maintain a strong forest products industry or retain forest cover across the landscape, it also gives people like Alex an opportunity to answer those questions as they work with private landowners. We saw and met many people who demonstrated how this leads to a more educated and engaged community around forest management and the long-term health of their woods.

The second thing that struck me about this program is that the state supports it in so far as to make payments to municipalities. Recreation and tourism are a significant part of Vermont’s economy, and the state recognizes that scenic forests play a big part in that. That economic justification alone would be selling the state short, however. Vermont leads in a lot of innovative policies beyond just their current use program, like Act 250, Vermont’s notoriously rigorous development review process. While there are certainly top-down effects of strong policies like these, I think their support is maintained by a strong and active sense of civic engagement and community across the state. It is fair to say that the state cares about and supports a strong current use program and other policies that sustain forest cover because enough people do.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the feedback between policies and the institutions that shape communities, and those communities’ role in shaping those policies and institutions. The back and forth between top-down and bottom-up forces makes it hard to attribute a causal origin to the sociopolitical character of Vermont. Maybe I still struggle to articulate what captivates me about the Green Mountain State…

But one thing is clear, the community on the town level and people’s connections to their environments and livelihoods creates a remarkable place to live and work. Another such example was on our visit to Cold Hollow to Canada (CHC) with more Guild members, Nancy Patch and Charlie Hancock, to see some of the integrated forest management and conservation projects they’ve created with their woodlot’s groups – private landowners working with CHC to manage their property together at the landscape scale. Their most recent project has pulled together 13 landowners and over 8,000 acres to participate in a carbon credit program for a voluntary carbon market. This is one of the first carbon offset projects of its kind, coordinating collective management across private landowner’s forests, no easy task. Again, I think a strong sense of community built around a shared mission of sustainable forest management was central to accomplishing this task. For landowners to tie their forests up in a project with a timeline that will likely span multiple changes in ownership requires a lot of trust among the participants and in the organizations leading the effort. In this example, a small community of people is making an impact on a large public good – the climate – that goes well beyond their town’s boundaries.

Now that I am back in the classroom thinking things like “coordinated landscape-scale forest management and land use planning to mitigate climate change,” I look fondly back on our trip to Vermont and remember our lessons learned. Namely, the importance of building community in the successful implementation, adoption, and accomplishment of even our largest ambitions.

Editors note: Austin is a Guild member and Master of Forestry Candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Thank you, Austin for your article and photos, and for being part of this community!

Written by Austin Dziki.

Alex started off his tour by telling us a bit about Vermont’s current use program, how it requires landowners to actively manage their forest, and how the state supports this program by reimbursing municipalities for lost property taxes. Two things struck me about this program as compared to other current use programs which may not require any action, or even a management plan.

A Guild 25th Anniversary Essay

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:30:00 GMT

Written by Al Sample

In his seminal essay on The Land Ethic, Aldo Leopold noted that in the field of conservation there is “a single plane of cleavage. . . . one group (A) regards the land as soil, and its function as commodity-production; another group (B) regards the land as biota, and its function as something broader.” As relates specifically to forestry,

“group A is quite content to grow trees like cabbages, with cellulose as the basic forest commodity . . . its ideology is agronomic. Group B, on the other hand, sees forestry as fundamentally different from agronomy because it employs natural species, and manages a natural environment rather than creating an artificial one. Group B prefers natural reproduction on principle. It worries on biotic as well as economic grounds about the loss of species . . . It worries about a whole series of secondary forest functions: wildlife, recreation, watersheds, wilderness areas. To my mind, Group B feels the stirrings of an ecological conscience.”

Many of us remember when, at some moment early or late in our forestry careers, we first picked up a copy of A Sand County Almanac and read this passage. For some of us it was like a bolt out of the blue. Here in just a few words, Leopold had articulated a concept that had long been coursing through our minds, inchoate and unformed, yet powerful and persistent.

But for a practicing forester, what did this really mean? Heading out to the woods the following Monday morning, how would we internalize this concept? How would we reconceive our role and purpose in the forested landscape, and how would it influence our plans, our decisions, our choices? How would we see the forest differently from the way we had looked at it the previous week, and how would this new outlook manifest itself on the face of the land through our actions?

Given that most of us were managing forests that we did not own ourselves, how would we reconcile this changed outlook with the expectations of the real owners, whether private or public? Was this a view widely shared, or just the musings of a single forester-philosopher writing near the end of his life in 1948?

Three decades ago, there were a few foresters who discovered that each of them knew this essay, and that each had found it profoundly meaningful. Each had paused and stepped back for a moment, to re-examine not only what they were doing as foresters, but how and why. There were no easy answers to these questions, but there wasvalue in struggling with them—and sharing that struggle with one another—coming away from these discussions with new insights, new ideas, and new hope.

The few foresters in those discussions became a few more, and then many. It turned out there were scores of foresters who had felt “the stirrings of an ecological conscience,” and who were eager to explore what they could learn from one another. These conversations became the wellspring from which the Forest Stewards Guild emerged 25 years ago.

Since then, those conversations have grown into a nationwide dialogue that has helped redefine the practice of forestry. An ecological conscience has become central to “sustainable forest management”. There is a deeper understanding of “forest stewardship” and the responsibilities that come with caring for the health and well-being of forest ecosystems that sustain a complex web of lives in addition to our own. Almost counterintuitively, this humility has inspired a stronger, clearer sense of purpose, and a renewed commitment to ecologically-sound forestry that future generations will recognize as such on the face of the land.

Scientists tell us that we have entered the Anthropocene, a new epoch of unprecedented uncertainty. This extends to forest ecosystems, which will profoundly affect, and be affected by, global environmental changes. In this “no analog future”, the Forest Stewards Guild will play a critically important role as a leader, and as a forum for the free exchange of new ideas and approaches—with humility, inspiration, commitment, and a now well-developed ecological conscience.

Forestry, with a challenge and a view

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 00:36:00 GMT

For those interested in Guild Gatherings along the Mississippi consider attending the upcoming Bottomland Hardwood Learning Exchange next month in Baton Rouge, LA.

Nearly 50 forest stewards from six states came to La Crosse, WI last month to discuss the important and complicated issue of forest restoration in the bluffs and bottomlands of the Upper Mississippi. It is hard to overstate the importance of the Mississippi River and its floodplain forests to commerce, wildlife, and the social fabric of this country. We focused this meeting on the restoration of bottomland forests within a matrix of open channels, backwaters, wild rice bays, and wet meadows in a one to four mile wide floodplain that extends from Saint Paul, MN to Saint Louis, MO and is flanked by high bluffs that have their own restoration challenges.

The first day was dedicated to indoor presentations that ranged from Peter Bundy’s discussion on forest restoration as a philosophical approach, to applied research from the US Geological Survey and area Universities, to on-the-ground case studies. We had a terrific meeting space on the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse campus with views of the grand bluffs over the city. All presentations were excellent and fit very well together.

We followed this by an evening social at the Pearl Street Brewery. The evening was highlighted by John Sullivan donating nine trees for a free raffle (see photo of the winners). The space and conversation were just as the Guild likes it – welcoming, thought-provoking, and fulfilling.

The field tour on day two included some ‘food for thought’. Work on the Upper Mississippi is a frontier of forest restoration. There is no template, methods are highly experimental, and the fluctuating water levels complicate the ‘best laid plans’ but the returns for successful restoration are enormous in terms of wildlife, water quality, and a multitude of other benefits. Forest restoration in this ecosystem is daunting but there are some bright and dedicated people working on this crucial issue and their passion made for a great field tour.
Special thanks to our event sponsors Applied Ecological Services, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse River Studies Center and Biology Department.

The stirring of an ecological conscience

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Al Sample

Forestry, with a challenge and a view

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

For those interested in Guild Gatherings along the Mississippi consider attending the upcoming Bottomland Hardwood Learning Exchange next month in Baton Rouge, LA.

Written by Michael Lynch

New England Forestry Foundation on forests, development, and climate

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Frank Lowenstein, Chief Conservation Officer, NEFF

Foresters will often respond to a question about the woods with the answer, “It depends.” And they are right. Forests are flexible, and the answer to most questions depends on the landowner’s goals, on the state of the forest, the species mix, the slope of the site, the soils, the elevation, the aspect, or even the landscape context. So when society asks how much of a difference New England forests can make in the fight against climate change, foresters might be inclined to answer, “It depends.” But this answer is not sufficient for effective policy planning. Unless we articulate a positive and precise vision for how outstanding forest management can help forests play a role in solving the climate crisis, then the societal forces that argue that the best way to halt climate change is to stop harvesting completely may ultimately win the day.

New England Forestry Foundation will soon provide a straightforward answer to the question. Its report, “A New Climate Wedge,” to be published later this fall, already articulates how much additional carbon can be sequestered in living forests via the application of Exemplary Forestry™, which is then available for capture through harvesting and manufacture of long-lived forest products. The result could be a new approach to reducing the effects of climate change.

How significant is the benefit? Pretty big. Exemplary Forestry could sequester as much additional carbon in the forests of New England as will be emitted over the next 20 years by all the cars and trucks in New England. Wood buildings have the potential to sequester even more, and to simultaneously reduce emissions through avoiding the energy used and subsequent carbon pollution in steel forges and concrete kilns and by fostering more compact development patterns. A 2014 study led by Yale researchers estimated that without cutting more than growth wood buildings could cut global carbon emissions by 14 to 31 percent; NEFF and partners are working toward a New England estimate. These approaches to using forests to protect our climate were detailed in a New York Times op-ed published by leaders from New England Forestry Foundation, Harvard Forest, Highstead Foundation, and Brandeis University in the New York Times on October 3, 2019.

That op-ed articulated a three-part approach to averting climate change: “protect forests from development, improve forest management, and use sustainably harvested wood to build tall wood buildings.” New England Forestry Foundation’s coauthors are leaders of the Harvard Forest’s Wildlands and Woodlands vision, which aims to stop the exurban residential sprawl that has eaten 850,000 acres of New England forest since 1985, and will eat another 1.2 million absent a change in our development patterns. Wood buildings could be a key component of that new approach. This is because mass timber buildings, using new technologies like cross-laminated timber, can be taller than traditional stud-wall construction, while still being more economical in the mid-rise space than steel and concrete buildings. Properties like the Rhode Island School of Design’s new six-story dormitory or even taller buildings like the 18-story Mjosa tower in Brumunddal, Norway, could enable denser development, keeping forests, and their economic, ecological, and carbon benefits intact.

Carolina Sandhills NWR: Internship Experience

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Emily Anderson

Editor’s note: The Guild has partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the last few years to provide students with hands-on experiences to learn how forestry and wildlife management work together on public lands. The 26-week positions are supervised and based at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in McBee, South Carolina. This article is from our most recent intern, Emily Anderson, who brought a fascinating background and left the internship with valuable career skills and an insight into how forest management works on a federal refuge.

Editor’s note: We are proud that Emily is staying involved with the Guild after her internship and wish her all the best on her future endeavors. We will continue this internship program in May 2020. Stay tuned to the jobs and internship pages at http://foreststewardsguild.org/jobs/ . If you would like to help recruit well-deserving and potentially interested students, or if you would like to apply yourself and have questions, please contact Mike Lynch at mike@forestguild.org or 608-449-0647.

I graduated from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina in 2018 with a B.S. in Biology. I have a diversity of interests and during my time at Furman I participated in several field study programs in geology and biology, which found me in Iceland, South Africa, Costa Rica, and the southwestern USA. Each of these experiences touched on forestry, but it was not the primary focus and forestry was something I knew I wanted to learn more about. To get more field experience I spent my college summers working on Furman’s farm and participating in geology and biology research, ultimately producing my own thesis on species distribution change under climate change. In the summer following graduation, I traveled to Costa Rica with my advisor to studying tropical ecology. From Furman, I went to work at Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site ( https://www.nps.gov/carl/index.htm ) and then took a position in a conservation biology lab at the Forestry College of Guangxi University in China, where I researched land use change and human influence indices, leading to a publication and a second article under review.

When I returned from China, I wanted a position that would get me outside, allow me to hone my forestry and wildlife skills, and be closer to home. I was thrilled to find the Guild’s internship in McBee, South Carolina working at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. During my seven months at the refuge I was exposed to the science of forestry for the first meaningful time. Much of my time was spent learning and doing the practice of forest inventory, which provided the manager with useful information from which to develop management practices. I also had the opportunity to visit logging sites, resolve timber sales, and call contractors to arrange precommercial thinning. In addition to learning about forestry, I had the great opportunity to work with the Refuge Biologist, banding doves and nestlings of the endangered red cockaded woodpeckers. I was also able to interact with the public during dove season and aid in aging the harvested doves.
Now that my internship is complete, I am volunteering with the Carl Sandburg Home and various local entities in the NC/SC area. I continue working on publications from my research in China and remain involved with the Guild’s newest efforts in Sandy Mush, North Carolina by attending coalition meetings and helping to document the events.

Amazon Fires and reflection

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Leonora Pepper.

From São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or other major Brazilian cities, the Amazon feels just about as remote as it might from New York City or San Francisco. For most Brazilians the Amazon is worlds away, and more a concept than something from direct experience. While living in the Amazon state of Pará in 2008 and again in 2015, I gained a window into the region’s complex land issues arising from a staggeringly rich ecology, challenging socioeconomic conditions, coexistence of diverse traditional and indigenous populations, and intensive land-use changes such as those stemming from the soy and cattle industries. Now, from my current home in São Paulo the Amazon feels distant, and as a land manager I work daily at stemming frustration at my powerlessness in the face of the current trends of destruction.

The fires in the Amazon gained the world’s attention in August, but they didn’t arise out of nowhere. Instead, the way was paved by a series of actions and attitudes since Jair Bolsonaro took office in January. Funding cuts and structural changes to environmental agencies and programs tasked with preventing and combatting forest fires, the discrediting of official deforestation data, and rhetoric condemning environmental NGOs and encouraging “development” of the Amazon have all created a highly polarized climate, and one that has been conducive to deforestation.

In a nutshell, the Amazon rainforest is not a fire-adapted ecosystem whose balance is maintained with a periodic fire regime. Instead, the occurrence of forest fires is a symptom of a compromised system already suffering from drying conditions and edge effects at agricultural frontiers. The silver lining now is that with the fires in the public spotlight, pressure is on for Bolsonaro’s administration to shape up its game or risk increases in international pressure, including potential economic sanctions that could erode the very base that still supports him.

Photos in this article are from Nasa and this summary: “Uptick in Amazon Fire Activity in 2019 "

One piece of misinformation that has circulated in Brazil is that concern for the Amazon is misguided since the fires are a normal dry season occurrence. This idea is easily disproven with scientific data showing that incidence and location of the fires correspond less with rainfall than with areas of deforestation. The Amazon Institute of Environmental Research (IPAM) released a report1 in August showing that the 10 municipalities within the Brazilian Amazon with the highest fire counts are the same 10 with the highest rates of deforestation between January and July of this year.

Reaching Back

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Ross Morgan, September 2019.

In the first few years of the Forest Stewards Guild, members used quotes from Josef Kostler’s book, Silviculture , to stimulate thought and ideas for the forming organization. The discussions that led to articulating our principles and mission have some roots in these quotes. Kostler was a Bavarian forester, as was his father, and he was a silviculture professor at the University of Munich. References that the author uses for this book date from the late 1800’s. By reaching back into the history of the forestry movement in Central Europe, we were hoping to gain insight into our long-term professional assignment–into who we are and how we could direct our own future.

Central to my understanding of this assignment, then and now, is found where Kostler quotes Forester Ammon about a hundred years ago.

The marking of the trees to be exploited is undoubtedly the most important task of all, the true central function of the professional forester. …..Someone who has the making of a forester…. finds in the task of marking great professional satisfaction, more especially when permitted to follow out the development of forests and their constant improvement over a matter of decades.

Here Kostler reveals the keystone in the forestry movement, the foot soldier in the process, the field forester who decides what is to be retained in the stand, and what is to be harvested for use. Policy, research, understanding of economics and of the complexity of forest ecology can all be in place, but if there is not a forester in the woods, who decides and marks the trees in a silvicultural regime with consideration for ecological functions, the forestry work is set back, often for many decades. The forester’s decisions bring a carefully planned silviculture to fruition for society. Yes, any silviculture is an intrusion into the forest, but it is calibrated as carefully as humans can; that is our assignment.

After the first meeting in Santa Fe in 1995, a bulletin was produced which contained many quotes inspired by our first introduction circles and discussions by those thirty participants; here are a few:

Robert Hrubes said, “I want to see an organization created out of this. I want to be part of an organization that reflects my values.”

Charlie Moreno is quoted, “I regard the conference as a ‘watershed’ event in my career. Beyond the intellectual exchange, it was an affirmation of the deeply held beliefs about working with the forest.”

Fred White wrote “We need to recognize that this is a fringe group. At the same time, we should not underestimate the power of such a group to leverage change.”

Jim Greig stated, “If you start with a virgin old growth stand, there is nothing you can do to enhance ecosystem function.” He also said, “The practice of silviculture becomes an art.”

By offering these quotes, from Kostler, who taught generations of European foresters, to Jim Greig, who influenced many younger California foresters, I am encouraging you to reach back twenty-five or more than a hundred years, to see who we were and consider who we can become.

Appalachian Mountain Club Maine Woods Initiative tour with the Forest Stewards Guild

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Dave Publicover.

Early arrivals on Thursday had the opportunity to take a hike through scenic Gulf Hagas. Thursday afternoon, the group travelled through the Chairback area, where we saw recent and pending culvert replacement projects and discussed AMC’s aquatic habitat connectivity work. We also looked at past harvesting on the north slope of the Chairback Range in high–quality hardwood stands and the use of harvesting to create glade skiing trails. After dinner on Thursday, Dave, Steve and Walter gave the group a presentation on the history of the MWI project (including our planned acquisition of the Pleasant River Headwaters Forest), our approach to land and forest management and the restoration of heavily harvested commercial forests, forest certification and our involvement with forest carbon offset markets, the development of recreational infrastructure on our land, and our involvement with local communities to promote regional ecotourism.

Many thanks to Steve Tatko of AMC and Barrie Brusila and Amanda Mahaffey of the Guild for pulling this tour together and for all who attended!

On August 15-16, 2019 the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) hosted over 20 members of the Forest Stewards Guild for a two-day tour of AMC’s Maine forest and land management operations. Attendees included representatives of state and federal agencies (Maine Forest Service, Maine Natural Areas Program, Baxter State Park, USDA Forest Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service), land trusts and NGOs, as well as students and private consulting foresters. While most attendees were from Maine, others came from New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and even Missouri. AMC was represented by Steve Tatko, Dave Publicover, Walter Graff and Karin Bothwell as well as Ted Shina of Huber Resources Corporation. The group enjoyed the excellent hospitality of Gorman Chairback Camp during their stay, including s’mores and canoes.

Friday morning began with a steady rain, but that did not deter this hardy group. We travelled to the southern part of the Katahdin Ironworks property, where we looked at current harvest operations and discussed AMC’s silvicultural approach and long-term goals. The group had a chance to talk to Alex and Molly London, the young husband-and-wife logging contractors who are in their first year working on AMC’s land. Lunch was at the Caribou Stream bridge at the outlet of Caribou Bog, where Steve talked about early logging history and the old village of Raystown, which existed for only a decade in the early 1900s. We then looked at two areas that were harvested last year, a beech salvage harvest in a low–quality stand and an initial commercial thinning in a young spruce-fir stand. Discussion at these stops had a strong wildlife focus with an explanation of how we were thinking about habitat management on our ownership for both forest birds and focal species such as American marten and Canada lynx. The group gave us some good thoughts about additional things we should be considering.

The day ended at the Katahdin Ironworks historic site where Steve once again demonstrated his extensive historical knowledge of the area (with a big shout out to the ladies at the Brownville Historical Society). During the wrap-up discussion, participants expressed their appreciation for our conservation and stewardship efforts – while many were aware AMC had a presence in the region, only a few were fully aware of the extent and complexity of the MWI project.

Nick Biemiller promotes to Southeast Region Director

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Nick started with the Guild as an intern in the Southwest office where we put his forestry experience to use and saw how quickly he learned and how willing he was to jump in and help. After his internship, Nick continued to work for the Guild part time through graduate school at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. At Yale, Nick researched prescribed burn associations and their application to family forest landowners in the United States. His efforts to connect with members and partners in the Southeast generated a new enthusiasm for the Guild in the region where we hadn’t previously had a strong presence.

After receiving his Master of Forestry degree, Nick started as the Southeast Regional Coordinator full time. In his first year with the Guild, Nick focused on activities to restore shortleaf pine ecosystems in the Cumberland Plateau, advance a vision of ecological forestry for bottomland hardwood forests, and to enhance the sustainable certification of southern forests. He also initiated a novel, community-based forest stewardship program in the Sandy Mush Community of western North Carolina, which has garnered support from both individual philanthropists and forest industry.

Nick’s move to the Director role is a recognition of the growth he’s achieved personally and for the Guild’s Southeast program. In addition to launching Phase II of our shortleaf pine project in the Plateau, Nick will be leading two bottomland hardwood projects in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley and the Coastal Carolinas. When added to new projects in partnership with SFI, the Georgia Water Coalition, and the Wetland Forest Initiative, Nick has built a vibrant program that engages forest stewards and restores forests where the Guild has only had individual projects in the past.

Congratulations Nick and thank you for all you do for the Guild and the forest!

Nick Biemiller stepped into the Southeast Region Director role on September 1, 2019!

A time for celebration and growth!

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

We start now, with the launch of two supportive tools:

Watch for a brand new, 25 ^th anniversary webpage on our new website in September. Your autumn Forest Steward magazine will also start to celebrate the stories and impact of the Guild and our members across the country.

Thank you for being part of this community and for all you do for forests!

The year 2020 marks 25 years of Guild activity, influence, and results for ecological forestry. During this quarter century, the Forest Stewards Guild has created a space for foresters and other stewards to build community, as they find new ways to manage and learn from the forest. The community has grown, and shows signs of long-term success, with college student chapters forming, and recent doubling of our youth programs. The Guild has forged partnerships with federal agencies, tribes, states, county fire departments, cities, towns, private companies, and dozens of other non-profits. Collectively we’ve also empowered landowners, trained new natural resource managers, and reached across interdisciplinary teams to find innovative resources for putting the forest first for the good of all.

Our vision of ecological, economical, and socially responsible forest stewardship as the standard from coast to coast is being realized bit by bit every single day. Our progress is driven by the hard work and dedication of an expanding Guild staff, programs, and partners. It is realized through Guild members who understand the importance of patience, humility, practice, observation, sharing, and listening when change is desired. We are so grateful to our members, staff, and partners for truly making our shared vision a reality more and more each year. In 2020, we will celebrate our accomplishments and our community! Stay tuned for news about new opportunities to gather, to revitalize and reinforce our dedication, to learn about new possibilities, to share stories and ideas and information, and continue our collective commitment to putting the forest first .

Our new Find-A-Forester Directory is live! Check it out and share it to spread the word and connect landowners, professionals, students, and others to Guild Professional Members who are making a difference every single day for our forests. The directory includes all Professional Members who wish to be listed…not just foresters but all who steward the land…so look for the services listed in their profiles and connect with someone who can help today! If you are a current Professional or Retired Professional member and you want to be listed but are not on the list, please login to the For Members area of our website and update your Directory information or contact membership@forestguild.org for help.
Our new Guild student member page and Student Chapter Manual ! This page will grow in time, with more resources and ways for students and their advisers to connect and share information. For now, check out our starting place for supporting students in their efforts towards responsible stewardship!

Creativity yielding great results

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The recent Creative Silviculture Guild Gathering in the Lake States afforded many opportunities for creativity, indeed! A flexible group of presenters and attendees shifted the entire first day’s agenda to take advantage of our best weather windows. The Guild’s own Mike Lynch became cook for the evening as catering plans fell through. Attendees cooperated on carpools, beer sharing, food prep and clean up to honor a lighter footprint. And we certainly learned about many ways creativity is relevant in silviculture in this region’s north woods.

We discussed how red pine, white pine, and white spruce seed orchards are providing information and stock for management in ways we anticipated decades ago and are also being called upon to help answer new questions for climate change adaptation. Bats and the severity of the challenges they face require quick and nimble research, observations, predictions, and protections where possible. In a changing demographic landscape, we are called upon to think differently about how we engage current and future landowners, who may have needs and skills and concerns very different than their predecessors. We also looked into the historical portal that red pine fire scars have preserved for us and discussed how this data can help us interpret red pine ecosystem dynamics and inform our management of stands throughout the region. On the hardwood front we looked at a range of options within the framework of an irregular shelterwood system and how adding these to our toolbox could really help our northern hardwood management. We ended our meeting on the edge of a forested peatland – an ecosystem with far more questions than answers – that will take a great deal of creativity if we are to maintain them into the future.

You can review the agenda, photos, presentations, and more from this meeting on the Guild’s event page . Better yet, register now for the next Lake States event, which will cross even more interdisciplinary lines as we focus on Restoration Forestry as a theoretical approach to management and specifically what that means in the context of “Bottomlands, Bluffs, and Birds,” coming up September 24-25 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. You won’t want to miss it, and Peter Bundy, a long time Guild member, will be keynote!

Thank you to all who make our gatherings so professionally valuable and personally fulfilling. It makes for one easy way we can each be authentic to the values and mission we believe so strongly in and find community at the same time.

I was thrilled to be a part of all the learning, discussion, willingness to grow and shift perspective at this Guild Gathering. The group consisted of long-time Guild members and partners, as well as foresters, wildlife specialists, and researchers – several of which have become brand-new Guild members! This made our discussions rich and varied, as presenters and attendees learned from each other and introduced new, creative possibilities. Plenty of challenging questions were left unanswered too, of course, but the collective efforts have been built stronger, as participants have already asked to share presentations, photos, and other information from the event. And perhaps best of all, the good will and comradery we’ve become accustomed to within our homey Guild community abounded, with new connections made at every field stop, it seemed.

Celebrating Grads: Forest Stewards Summer Youth Corps

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) graduation this July was a celebration of new friends, accomplishments, and lasting memories for the 24 youth corps members. The day started out with excitement as the four youth crews chatted and reunited after two months of work in their respective Forest Service Ranger Districts. Each crew brought a different activity with them. We had card games, rodeo roping competitions, and a drawing competition for next year’s FSYC t-shirt graphic. Amidst all the fun, games, and good food, the corps members looked back at their accomplishments and forward toward new goals.

For some, FSYC is a steppingstone to a career in natural resource management. For others, it is a stopover and a moment of clarity in their pursuit of other career goals. As we filled out surveys and asked questions to review personal accomplishments, I was excited to find out how many of the kids were planning to pursue a career in natural resource management. The Espanola crew, for example, had all worked toward their wildland firefighter certifications during the summer. Other crews had members that were excited to continue learning about natural resource management through continued education or work experience. The Forest Service presented information about potential career paths in natural resource management, and although that didn’t seem particularly interesting to the kids, it was clear that the agency had made a lasting impression on them. The personal connections that developed as these kids worked alongside Forest Service personnel in their local ranger districts are a powerful foundation for this next generation of natural resource leaders.

Even for the kids that had decided that they weren’t interested in natural resource management careers, graduation provided a sense of completion and a chance to clearly articulate a new set of interests. One crew member expressed that the team building experience that they gained through FSYC would help them towards a career in law enforcement, and others valued the essential experience of getting and holding a stable job.

The day ended with each Youth Corps member receiving a diploma certifying their completion of the program and a heartfelt speech from the Guild’s Southwest Director Matt Piccarello thanking the Corps for all the meaningful work they completed. I left feeling grateful and refreshed by the opportunity to help shape this next generation of natural resource leaders. As we prepare for the Fall FSYC program this September, I look forward to helping the next group of excited crew members explore forest and fire management on national forest land.

A personal reflection by Gabe Kohler

Wildlife Forestry in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The Guild is proud to announce that this fall we will be launching a project in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas to engage landowners in wildlife-focused forestry. Our project will manage and enhance natural stands of bottomland hardwoods in the LMAV for the benefit of wildlife and freshwater systems. We will partner with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and The Nature Conservancy to exemplify wildlife forestry concepts. By supporting demonstration sites on Louisiana state lands, engaging landowners and resource professionals through education & outreach events, and connecting landowners to technical services, we will promote sustainable forest management in the LMAV that maintains or enhances the ecological integrity of bottomland hardwood forests. We will also host a Bottomland Hardwoods Learning Exchange in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in fall 2019, as a follow-up to our 2018 event in Brunswick, Georgia.

This project builds off the Guild’s ongoing efforts to “move-the-needle” on the standard for forest management in bottomland hardwood forests across the South. It complements our previous reports, “Ecological Forestry Practices for Bottomland Hardwood Forests of the Southeastern U.S.” and “Forest Biomass Retention and Harvesting Guidelines for the Southeast,” and aligns with our involvement on the steering committee of the Wetland Forest Initiative.

This project is possible thanks to the generous support of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Merck Family Fund. For more information on the project and award, please read the recent press release .

In more Southeast news, check out the note in the July 2019 issue of ATL, announcing our award of another NFWF grant we are proud to accept and excited to start work from, farther north in the region. Details are coming on those projects soon! Stay tuned…

Written by Nick Biemiller

Guild Forestry in the Lake States

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Written by Michael Lynch

The Guild’s vision is ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry as the standard for professional forest management from coast to coast. That can look different from place to place. In the Lake States several members are interested in diving into the topic of what ‘Restoration Forestry’ is and what it looks like the context of our forested ecosystems. What does the term Restoration Forestry mean?

Are we striving to restore processes? Composition? Function? How do we define restoration in the face of a changing climate? Or when other resources or values come into play? What about scale?

R estoration Forestry Guild Gather ing

These questions, and many more, have bounced around our conversations for several years. We have scheduled a gathering in La Crosse, Wisconsin this September to delve deeper into the topic.

In a timely coincidence, long-time Guild member Peter Bundy has a book due out this fall titled “ An Active Hand: The Fundamentals of Restoration Forestry . ” The book is a peer reviewed publication that covers the principles of ecology, economics, and community in successful restoration efforts and shares stories from the field to illustrate each of these topics. It should be a wonderful literary addition to the field, and we are thrilled that Peter has volunteered to serve a keynote role at the La Crosse meeting.

Creative Silviculture Guild Gathering

More infor mation on these meetings can be found on our events page . Please reach out to us at membership@forestguild.org if you have any questions about these events or have topic or location ideas for future Guild Gatherings. Member feedback is how wedevelopgatherings and any ideas or feedback you can provide are very useful!

We choose La Crosse, Wisconsin because the challenges of defining restoration and success are particularly complicated in the bottomland hardwoods of the Upper Mississippi. Andy Meier, Guild member and forester for the US Army Corps of Engineers in La Crescent, Minnesota, has been the driving force behind the upcoming meeting and makes a strong case for having the Upper Mississippi as the backdrop. Andy has worked in several different ecosystems but describes the Upper Mississippi as one of the most complicated due to the interplay of commercial, recreational, and ecological priorities. The dynamics of a lock-and-dam system, a sea of invasive reed canary grass, and a litany of other factors mean that without intensive action they are having trouble getting any trees to regenerate. How do we practice forestry in this setting? How do we define restoration when we are working in a system that has seen such dramatic hydrologic and invasive species changes? How do we practice forestry in an area that is vitally important for so many interests? For example, this is one of the most important transportation systems in the country. Barges head up and down the river with goods going two and from ports throughout the world. It is also extremely important for wildlife. The forest habitat along the river is one of North American’s largest, most critical migration highways.

This is just a snapshot of forestry issues in in the Lake States and one meeting we are coordinating to bring heads together to discuss solutions. We hope you can join us. Register here!

Guild members will also be gathering at the University of Wisconsin’s Kemp Natural Resources Station in a few weeks to discuss a variety of hot topics in silviculture. The decision to cut or not cut an individual tree is a diametric choice, but at the stand or landscape scale, nearly all decisions facing a forest manager exist on a continuum with a range of options and often unknown outcomes. This is where a forest manager must blend what we call the art and science of growing healthy forests. The early-August Guild Gathering at Kemp Station will be an opportunity to discuss some of the creative ways people are approaching these issues to improve the stewardship of our forests. The presentations will help develop the science side of things and the conversations with other practitioners will inform the art.

A book review of “Identifying Ferns the Easy Way”

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Identifying Ferns the Easy Way: A Pocket Guide to Common Ferns of the Northeast, by Lynn Levine, was recently published. Read on for a book review of it, written by Nancy Patch of the Guild’s MPC.

I recently had the pleasure of obtaining a copy of this little book and field guide by Forest Stewards Guild member, Forester, and Ecologist Lynn Levine. There are several things that stand out in this book, which I would like to elaborate on here, but the book’s most important aspect is its accessibility. Lynn makes this easy and a pleasure to seek out and learn about the common ferns in our woods. I must say, this is no surprise as Lynn has been educating

landowners and citizens for 40 years as a forester and owner of Forest Care Consulting.

But to the book. It is a thin compact book that can be taken directly to the field for discovery. There are 28 ferns beautifully described with precise drawings and information about each fern that will help in identification. Each page has information on

where the fern is found (rocky faces, wet ground, limestone, etc),
several tips on form, height, and specific things like “the blade tears easily”
which other ferns may be similar or add confusion and,
my favorite part…interesting notes. One such note on the Interrupted Fern states that its fossil record is more than 200 million years old, three times earlier than the dinosaurs’ extinction.

The book starts out with extensive information that will help both beginners and experienced woods walkers/botanists. It starts with, How to Start, how to look at the woods and where the fern is growing, how to observe, how to look at the basic structure and silhouette of the fern. Lynn breaks down the fern by using simple groupings of leaf or frond morphology, and clearly defining botanical terms. Another favorite part of the book for me was the description of what a fern is, its incredible geologic history and the unique and amazing reproductive life cycle. Simply fascinating!

All lovers of the woods, plants, and the earth should have this book. You can easily learn these 28 fern species with Lynn’s help. Wow yourself and your friends with this new knowledge about these unique plants in our backyard.

This book is available through Heartwood Press now!

Introducing the Guild’s Intermountain West office and leadership

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The Intermountain West (IMW) Region is gaining momentum with the hiring of two new Guild staff members—Corrina Marshall and Meg Matonis. The IMW Region is focused on increasing the pace and scale of prescribed fire, increasing diversity and inclusion in the fire practitioner community, building fire–resilient landscapes and communities, and building Guild membership in the region. Opportunities abound in this region for planning and implementing landscape–scale conservation projects with support from the Guild’s very own Gravitas Peak Wildland Fire Module. Its yet another way we put Guild principles into practice on the ground while supporting forest stewards who seek to put the forest first.

The IMW Region hopes to develop strong and lasting partnerships in the area to advance the Forest Stewards Guild’ vision of ecologically, economically, and socially responsible land management.

Corrina Marshall – Intermountain West Regional Coordinator

Corrina’s current responsibilities include fundraising, document generation, and community engagement on projects focused on wildfire mitigation and prescribed fire. Working previously in the East and Midwest, she has a strong background in land stewardship, partnership development and support, and private landowner collaboration. While working for the Aldo Leopold Foundation, she served on their prescribed fire crew which sparked her interest in its use as a tool for landscape scale conservation and restoration work. Corrina is interested in supporting diversity in the field of conservation through the community partners that we work with. The next generation of conservation work, in the face of climate change, needs to be more inclusive and on a scale larger than ever before.

Meg Matonis – Intermountain West Regional Manager

IMW staff are collaborating with Evergreen and Platte Canyon communities to update their Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP). The IMW Region emphasizes meaningful community and stakeholder engagement throughout the CWPP process, from identifying wildfire hazards and values at risk to assessing evacuation routes.These projects will build on the Guild’s past research and experience working with communities in New Mexico. TheIMW team also embarked on a project with fire and fuel managers at Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and staff from the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute to co-produce knowledge aroundfuel treatment effectiveness. The partnership with RMNP should provide some great opportunities to get Guild members and other stewards out for field tours and discussion.

Meg Matonis is thrilled to join the Guild and support efforts to increase the pace and scale of prescribed burning , create fire adapted communities, and increase diversity and inclusion on the fire line . Meg earned a PhD in forest ecology from Colorado State University in 2015, and she has professional experience with science communication, outreach, and collaboration . She has been an on-call wildland firefighter with the Larimer County Sherriff’s Office since 2013. Before joining the guild, Meg worked for the Colorado State Forest Service as the experiential learning coordinator and university liaison , and she served as a science communication specialist for the Rocky Mountain Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. She looks forward to interacting with Guild employee and partners to advance our common interests in holistic forest management.

New Perspectives on a Guild Classic

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

It has been over 25 years since the Forest Stewards Guild partnered with New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps (NMYCC) and National Forests in New Mexico to begin providing youth from rural communities with an opportunity to get natural resource management experience through the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC). Although FSYC has been around for almost three decades, recent additions to Guild staff, Gabe Kohler and Rhiley Allbee, share their fresh perspectives of the recent crew member training.

“As the rain fell and the temperatures dropped on the first night of the FSYC crew member training, we expected spirits to fall and excitement to wane. In a rush, we worked to dole out hot chocolate to the 21 trainees to warm their fingers and moods, but we needn’t have worried. A fire was quickly built, and the laughter and smiles continued as the sun set beyond the horizon.

On the second day of the training, the trainees spent their time learning about the forest and fire ecology of New Mexico, trail establishment and maintenance, tool maintenance, and different career paths such as wildland firefighting, wildfire investigation, forestry, recreation management, AmeriCorps, and Peace Corps. On the final day, they put the technical knowledge that had been gained to good use, working on trail and fencing projects at Hyde Memorial State Park and on the Santa Fe National Forest.

For many, this is their first job and it may have been their first time camping or spending time away from friends or family. And yet, every single one of the trainees came into the training with confidence and a willingness to open themselves up to new people and new experiences. Over the course of the three days, we had the opportunity to watch the trainees grow from their training and lay the foundation for new friendships and career paths. Saying goodbye to each of the crews at the end of training was bittersweet, but I am confident that they all have an interesting and fun summer ahead of them.” – Rhiley Allbee

In addition to all the great learning and experience, the FSYC program fosters a strong connection among these kids through a shared appreciation and understanding of forested landscapes.

“What struck me most about FSYC was the amount of experience that these kids have living and working in forested landscapes. They swapped tips and tricks for fixing fences, shared opinions about the brands of boots they like, and have experience hunting and fishing in many of the forest types we introduced during our forest ecology sessions. In fact, when we asked them to form groups with other kids based on common ground, almost all of them shared a deep love and appreciation for the outdoors.

Throughout the three day crew training at Hyde Memorial State Park, we got to see the power of this shared appreciation of natural landscapes foster unexpected friendships and understanding amongst teenagers. These teenagers are at a notoriously difficult time in their lives when it is easy to feel misunderstood or isolated. It was refreshing to see kids come together over a simple appreciation of things like sniffing the vanilla scent of an old ponderosa pine or roasting the perfect marshmallow.” – Gabe Kohler

The Guild offers our sincere thanks to the organizations and individuals who helped make this training a success, including:

Jennifer Sublett, Santa Fe National Forest
Scott Chalmers, New Mexico State Forestry Division
Alvaro Garcia and Randy Bates, Hyde Memorial State Park
Zach Close and crew, City of Santa Fe Wildland Fire Department
Penny Rodriguez, YouthWorks! Culinary Program
Rangeland Management Staff, Santa Fe National Forest
Guild Staff

Announcing our new website and member portal!

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The Guild has been gearing up for a year for big changes in how we appear online and tell our story. We also took on a transformation in how we manage our membership database and create opportunities for members to connect and engage.

There is still plenty of work to do, though we’ve reached a major milestone! Our new look is found at:

http://foreststewardsguild.org.

And, visit our new member portal (see below) to create your logon user name and password. This portal has up to the minute details of your membership status, donations, event registrations and more. You can even manage the information in your membership record yourself, through your “profile.” And if you are a Professional member or Retired Professional member, you also may update/complete your profile for our new “Find A Forester” Directory, which we will launch soon. Or, opt-out, because your listing is up to you!

For members: to get to the portal, visit the “For members” area on the top right of the website. If it asks if you already have an account, it is referring to your member account, so yes you do. Just enter your email address on file with us and you’ll get a message to set up your logon.

For not yet-members: visit the “For members” area on the top right of the website and create an account. Then go back to the “for members” area of the website and click on “forgot password?” Then you can plug in your email address to receive a link to set up your logon. Once you logon to your member portal you can click a link to join. Too much work? You can skip the portal step and simply join . Just ignore the initial pop up.

Responsible forest management requires learning curves and perseverance, so I know we’ll get through this technological new-ground together. If you have questions or concerns, please contact membership@forestguild.org and we’ll be happy to help.

In the meantime, enjoy the new site, be sure to renew your membership this month if you haven’t already, (current year’s memberships expire June 30) and thanks for your patience as we roll out more online and for members very soon!

Another Guild Gathering to remember

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

In early June, in rural New Hampshire, accompanied by beautiful weather and kind people, more than 50 Guild members and friends gathered to do one of the things we do best – learn from each other and the land.

The setting was the stunning Stone Fence Farm, owned by Guild members Laura French and Jeremy Turner of Meadowsend Timberlands, Ltd. Laura and Jeremy know their property well, as if they have spent every meal, workday and playtime hour with it, getting to know its features and nuances. In fact, I think they have spent all that time focused on their property, and others like it, which offer countless opportunities to model responsible forestry and help the landscape become more resilient.

A garden and orchard dedicated to their own food production and eventual sales and educational tours, a quality home built sustainably with love from many contributors, the nicest sugar house I’ve ever seen, and a barn you could call home with site-specific historical artifacts, make up just one small part of this overall property. It’s the part where we gathered for wood fired meals from the wood oven at the sugar house, a campfire, tent camping and barn sleeping, general visiting, and petting the resident dogs.

The rest of the property ranges from sugar maple stands slated for maple syrup production, to spruce-fir stands that Laura and Jeremy are helping to revive as they manage the area to offer them a second chance in a crowded section of forest. They have wildlife very much in mind too. We heard a nearly constant collection of bird songs and visited small and large gaps created to help them and other species thrive with the use of these additional respites in the landscape. The gaps were created strategically and helped make other management projects on the property easier to complete. Thoughtful management includes plans for activities, such as the sugar bush, in areas that can make use of the best historical logging roads on the property, limiting erosion potential. Much thinning and one prescribed burn have occurred on the property in the ten years Laura and Jeremy have owned it and in all cases they were intimately involved with choosing the companies and people who did the work. This property is graced with owners who understand that the land has so much to teach us, and in turn, the management they do on this land is designed to maintain those teachings. Laura showed us specific trees they made sure were left in thinning operations, careful work after thinning to reinforce and hold the land and soils newly exposed, and examples of hard hours spent creating fire breaks in dense shrubland.

So many ideas were shared. Laura and Jeremy asked for input the entire two days, taking advantage of the wealth of expertise present in their woods for this event. Guild members in attendance included state and federal agency employees, foresters, wildlife managers, biologists, landowners, Guild Board, Founding, and Membership and Policy Council members, students, Guild staff, other non-profit employees, retired professionals in natural resources and many more. Even young children and plenty of canine companionship made the event richer!

As for what it all meant for those present, I’ll paraphrase some of what we heard in closing on the last day:

1. “In conversations throughout the day I’m reminded of how many perspectives there are regarding management. Sharing and discussing these has us think more deeply about our work and choices.”

2. “Its never too late to learn something new. Thank you for completely opening your property to all of us. We have a diverse group here; climate scientists from down south, people from Oregon and the Midwest. This has been really cool.”

3. “This property is the best candidate for the National Best Tree Farm designation, and it would be New Hampshire’s first.”

4. “The tightness between the original dreams of what a few people might be able to do, and what has just been done ‘yesterday’ is remarkable and it has longevity written all over it.”

5. “For me its always been about the people. There is something completely different about this sub-species of natural resource professionals. There is an intellectual enthusiasm for the practice of forest management. Most other foresters I deal with are just going through the motions and doing what they are told. Age, gender, expertise, and geographical diversity in the Guild is well beyond most forestry organizations. I’m reassured emotionally that I am part of a group.”

6. “Very well-planned, well-executed field tour. I’m struck by seeing regeneration in the forest as a sign of sustainable management and looking at our own organization’s growth and inclusion of young people in the same way.”

7. “Having you here has been so humbling. We feel so honored.” – Laura

8. “As a young, early-career person this gave me a chance after a cross-country move to re-engage in a community like this to see where my science careers could fit into this world.”

9. “Being able to talk to people from across the country and locally and bounce ideas off of people who are just as interested in what I’m doing as I am in what they are doing is really revitalizing.”

10. “The narrative of this place is an amalgamation of people and circumstances. It’s the people here today directly and indirectly that have made it possible. Its really rewarding to see what is going on through the lens of people like you.” – Jeremy

11. “I have a lot in my environmental education world telling me I could throw in the towel because young people want to play video games and we must protect them from Lyme Disease, etc. This event validates my beliefs that stray from that – children have a natural connection to environment, and it is a huge disservice to society to not nurture those connections. They were nurtured well here. I appreciate the work the Guild does to consider and support the next generation of forest stewards all the way down to simply including them in events when they are young and feeding that passion and whatever they are interested in. And I appreciate the model Laura and Jeremy have provided in letting children be children, dogs be dogs, and the forest be the forest, not in a hands-off way, but from a perspective that they all have as much to teach us as we have to offer them. It’s a way of thinking that is sustainable in the woods and out.”

Thank you to all who were involved with this event. It was truly unique and a Guild Gathering to remember.

New fire module team hits the ground burning!

Fri, 17 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

New staff at the Guild are jumping in feet first! Three new Guild staff based out the Guild’s Loveland, Colorado office didn’t wait a week before using their expertise in prescribed fire. Kate Williams, plans specialist; Tyler Gilbert, logistics specialist; and Daniel Rael, prescribed fire apprentice joined the Guild’s Fire Management Director in the Luera Mountains of New Mexico on a restoration project. This team is the core of the Guild’s fire team called the Gravitas Peak Wildland Fire Module. Other fire experts like Thayer McKeith join the Module on an-as-needed-basis and big projects like the Luera Mountains burn wouldn’t be possible without them. Future issues of Across the Landscape will give a full introduction to our new staff, but suffice it to say they are a perfect fit for the high-performing team at the Guild. They were able to return a crucial ecological process, fire, to mixed conifer, ponderosa pine, and piñon-juniper forests. The Guild team worked shoulder to shoulder with staff from the New Mexico State Land Office, the Department of Game and Fish, the Prescribed Fire Council, and the South Central Mountains RC&D. Through this collaborative effort, the team was able to achieve positive ecological impacts across 5,200 acres. As one partner said, “we’ve never done so much good, for so little money.”

Written by Zander Evans
Photos by Kate Williams and Dave Lasky

Some of the ecological goals included re-establishing historical densities of ponderosa pine and piñon-juniper, restoring fire’s historical function, improving habitat for both livestock and wildlife, improving species diversity, and improving watershed function. Functionally, this meant reducing 90 to 100% of slash areas, thinning with fire 40% of ponderosa pine 8 inches DBH and smaller, and consuming up to 90% of the pine litter. All of this was done with minimal ground disturbance in a very remote area.

The team only had a brief rest before heading out again to get more good fire on the ground in northeastern New Mexico. This hands-on, operational training at Fort Union Ranch will provide landowners with exposure to the process of responsibly implementing a prescribed burn from start to finish on private property.

Coming Together in the Pacific Northwest

Fri, 17 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Guild events in the Pacific Northwest have begun to pop up all over the calendar, with the piquant insistence of a small flycatcher hailing a taxi.* From the Bogs and Outwash Guild Gathering in Shelton, Washington last fall to recent and upcoming Foresters for the Birds demonstrations near Portland and Corvallis, Oregon, the Guild has been building partnerships and providing a space for conversation across the region.

In a stand of mature Douglas fir, Western hemlock, and Western red cedar, a sibilant song whistles through the canopy, a song whose cadence and context inspire the mnemonic “ trees-trees-beautiful-trees. ” This Brown Creeper is a small bark-gleaning bird that nests under the sloughing bark of dying trees and snags in mature conifer forests, and is the type of bird that is easy to identify, is reliably associated with particular forest types and structural characteristics, and for whom the Pacific Northwest is a core part of the species range.

The Foresters for the Birds program in the Pacific Northwest is modeled on the silviculture-centered programs that originated in the northeastern U.S. a decade ago in response to declining populations of songbirds, abundant privately-held forest, and opportunity for increasing forest stewardship. The program provides a framework for partnering private landowners, foresters, and avian conservation groups for the purpose of generating an appreciation for regional avifauna, and the ways that a managed landscape can better support bird life.

Another gathering will be held at the end of the month (May 31) at the McDonald-Dunn forest outside of Corvallis, Oregon with USGS biologist Dr. Joan Hagar. In short, this new program is growing through the feedback of interested participants and community members. The program adds value to forests by reaching out to people who own, manage, and love forests and providing another way to see the benefits of sustainably managed forests through a bird-shaped lens.

*The Pacific Slope Flycatcher, an associate of mature conifer forests in the Pacific northwest, is noted for a shrill “wolf-whistle” phrase in its song that has caught the imagination of urban birders in the noisier, more saliva-choc times before cell phones and Uber.

Written by Gregor Yanega.
Thank you to Maggie Smith, the Missouri Department of Conservation, Peter Hayes, and Gregor Yanega for the photos in this article.

At our most recent workshop, held in early May in conjunction with West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, a spectrum of participants including landowners, government agencies, soil and water conservation districts, contract foresters, and ornithologists had a chance to test-drive some of the practical aspects of the program. This northwestern version of Foresters for the Birds reflects the characteristics and history of northwestern forests. By synthesizing current research and management practices into a flexible set of recommendations and trainings, we provide a resource that consolidates information and is supportive of landowner values.

Further north and farther down the trail, the Guild will be partnering with Jefferson Land Trust’s Owen Fairbank and Ecotrust to host a Guild Gathering at Chimacum Ridge on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula on September 13th. Mountains, rivers, forests, ocean, and birds converge in what promises to be a memorable step in the growth of the Guild in the Northwest. Stay tuned for registration info coming soon!

Support the next generation of stewards! Forest Steward Youth Corps crews are starting up.

Fri, 17 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Spring in northern New Mexico is always exciting. The weather changes quickly with snow, rain, wind, and red-flag days all possible in the same week. For Guild staff in Santa Fe, spring is also the season to hire and gear-up for our summer and fall Forest Stewards Youth Corps crews. These crews do amazing conservation work on public lands every year, but there are still funding gaps for the program and we need your help .

The Forest Stewards Youth Corps (Youth Corps) program is over 20 years old and dates to the work and relationships of the Forest Trust in New Mexico from the 1990s. The Youth Corps program is based on a longstanding partnership between the Guild, the USDA Forest Service, the National Forest Foundation, and New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps.

Over the course of the 2018 9-week summer program, Youth Corps crews accomplished a wide variety of natural resource projects. These projects helped restore ecosystems and wildlife habitat, reduced the risk of wildfires, improved recreational opportunities, and protected important cultural sites on their host Forest Service ranger districts. Crew members participated in 42 training sessions for a total of 2,352 hours. The program also awarded 54 college credit hours through a partnership with Santa Fe Community College. Crew work projects accomplished 54.1 miles of fence maintenance, 26.2 miles of trail maintenance, restored 21 campsites, built 40 slash piles across 11 acres, restored 57 fire pits, completed 15 bighorn sheep survey plots, removed noxious weeds from 98 acres, built 9 erosion control structures, constructed 5.75 miles of fireline, cleaned ¼ mile of irrigation ditches, conducted 9 surveys of archeological sites, and conducted 25 forest inventory plots across 250 acres.

Guild staff work nearly year-round to sustain the program and a diversity of funding sources are needed to fill all the program needs. That is where Guild members and supporters come in. The program needs your help to fill all the funding gaps and make sure every corps member, crew, and season is a success. Please consider supporting this core Guild program !

Written by Eytan Krasilovsky.

The primary mission of the program is to foster the next generation of forest stewards through hands-on, project-based conservation projects. The summer program serves high school aged youth and in 2018, the Youth Corps was expanded to include a fall program serving an older age cohort (18-25 years), which emphasizes wildland firefighter training and prescribed fire implementation. By providing work experience, education, training, and mentorship, the Youth Corps empowers youth with the skills and certifications they need to pursue careers and higher education in natural resource management. Crew members are recruited from the rural communities in which they serve and are hosted by U.S. Forest Service ranger districts. District staff identify priority projects that reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and improve recreational, wildlife, and cultural resources that Youth Corps members and their families enjoy.

In 2019, the summer and fall programs will field 6 crews and employ 40 youth on the Cibola and Santa Fe National Forests. Project work includes trail maintenance, noxious weed removal, hazardous fuels reduction, and preparing and implementing prescribed burns among many other projects. These are paid positions and corps members receive college credits, training certificates, and learn about local conservation issues through mentorship with professionals.

There were also many work and training accomplishments of the inaugural fall program in 2018. The highlight for the fall crews were when they were able to put their wildland fire training to use on three complex prescribed burns, where they helped restore fire to 990 acres. As the season ended Guild staff were excited to learn that several corps members found continued employment with local fire departments and our own Gravitas Peak Wildland Fire Module.

Prescribed Fire and Family Forest Landowners in the Cumberland Plateau (TN/KY)

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This spring, the Guild hosted two learn-and-burn events with our partners at Berea College, University of the South, and the Tennessee Wildlife Federation to increase capacity for prescribed burning on the Cumberland Plateau. The events took place at the University of the South’s Forest in Sewanee, TN and the Berea College Forest in Berea, KY. The events welcomed family forest landowners and resource professionals to learn about prescribed fire and gain practical experience participating in a live demonstration burn.

These learn-and-burn events represent a significant movement towards increasing family forest landowner capacity for prescribed burning, by increasing landowner awareness, training, and experience. The day started off with a series of indoor presentations that “set the stage” for the outdoor demonstration burn, providing landowners information about shortleaf pine restoration, prescribed fire law, wildlife habitat enhancement, prescribed burn associations, and cost-share assistance programs.

Written by Nick Biemiller.

Family forest landowners own about 70 percent of all forestland in Tennessee and Kentucky. Prescribed burning has the potential to meet the diverse goals of landowners, and many are supportive of the practices. However, significant barriers exist, including perceived liability and risk, narrow burn windows, lack of resources, laws and regulations, and negative public opinion.

During the outdoor live demonstration burn, landowners had the opportunity to either observe the burn from control lines or actively participate in the burn with assistance from a “burn mentor”. With drip-torch in hand, interested landowners gained experience laying a fire line and learning what the application of good fire to the landscape means. Landowners left the event excited about prescribed fire and empowered to take the next step towards introducing fire to their woodland.

Connecting Ecological and Human Health

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The Healthier Rural West summit provided an opportunity to connect our efforts to support healthy ecosystems with innovators making our human communities healthier. On March 20 ^th , Nick Goulette from the Watershed Research and Training Center, Jennifer Hansen, Utah’s Wildfire Risk Reduction Coordinator, and Zander Evans from the Forest Stewards Guild presented aspects of fire adaptation to an audience of healthcare professionals and advocates.

Nick outlined the fundamental challenge of an expanding Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), warming climate, and a century of fuel build up. Jennifer talked specifically about Utah’s WUI outreach and implementation work including the recent Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy. Zander shared a vision for how the Guild’s Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) fosters both forest and individual health. The youth who come out into the forest for 12 weeks of hard work and learning get stronger and healthier through a cross training program of building fences, marking trees, digging fireline, and repairing trails. The projects they complete support healthier wildlife populations, reduce erosion, and set the stage for returning fire to the forest.

The threat of large, high severity wildfire to rural communities was no surprise to participants working on health care, many of whom had experienced a fire in their community. One participant from Montana commented on how the idea of landscape lost, resonated with her because of her experience with wildfire. Another participant had started as a wildland firefighter before turning to a career in medicine. Everyone acknowledged the negative impacts of wildfire on health from smoke impacts to loss of clean water supplies after a fire.

While health care professionals are already loaded down with an array of challenges, they are still interested in efforts to link fire adaptation with health because of the potential power of cross-sectorial solutions. Those of us who advocate for forests may find we get more support and engagement by connecting our work to human health benefits. Sharing our story with people working in other fields opens new possibilities and we have much to learn from other disciplines.

Written by Zander Evans.

The parallels between our efforts to build fire adapted communities and health care were hard to miss. A session on workforce development for health care could easily have been relabeled for forest worker workforce development. There is the same need for a wide funnel of young students with potential interest in the field in order to eventually yield a few trained professionals. Discussion about levels of certification for registered nurses, physician’s assistants, and other health care professionals shares similarities with the challenge of certifying fire practitioners in ways that both ensure good outcomes and expanded use of prescribed fire. Community health workers who come from within the community to link people to the resources and information they need to maintain healthy lives could be a model for fire adapted community ambassadors.

Building the Next Generation of Fire Practitioners

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

How the Forest Stewards Guild is Building the Next Generation of Fire Practitioners: The Forest Stewards Youth Corps Fire and Fuels Program
Written by Matt Piccarello

As the igniters lined out at the top of the ridge, I could see a mix of apprehension and excitement in their eyes. Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) Fire and Fuels crew members spent the last five weeks training for this moment. They had cleared fence line and prepped burn units, but it wasn’t until they had drip torches in their hands and a hotshot barking orders at them that they realized … this was for real. That the “10s” and “18s” actually meant something, and that yes, you really have to carry that much water. Their training was more than “a training” now; it was their foundation for actually accomplishing implementing forest restoration, and doing so safely.

We wanted crew members to see that being a hotshot was about more than just being physically strong. It means knowing how to work as a team. Keeping track of your gear and being responsible for yourself and accountable to your crew. Running out of water or forgetting to pack a lunch isn’t just your problem, your preparedness affects your crew’s ability to work. Being a hotshot also means that you know how to make a profile on USAJobs and account for your skills and experience well enough to be considered for the position. No amount of instruction or lecturing could match hearing that from the lips of real-live firefighters (who we brought in as speakers).

Patience. And options: Youth need options.
The requirements to work on a fireline are straightforward and non-negotiable. Without the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) coursework certifcations and a passing time on an arduous pack-test, you cannot be a wildland firefighter, let alone a hotshot. To try and ensure all crew members were set up for success, we “required” (keep reading to understand why that’s in quotes) all crew members to complete the NWCG basic firefighter online coursework prior to their start date. While a few crew members were able to navigate the online system and complete their coursework before arriving, the majority did not. Consequently, Guild staff poked, prodded and pleaded with crew members to finish the course work as quickly as possible. Myself, and many members of the crew, are now on a first-name basis with the poor soul responsible for fielding questions about the NWCG online training. At one point, I even updated the computers at the Mountainair Public Library in efforts to make the NWCG program work on the computers there (it still didn’t). So, then, I hand delivered Guild-issued a laptop to one of the last crew members needing to complete the training.

Needless to say, moving forward, the Guild will directly facilitate the NWCG portion of the basic firefighting training as part of the program curriculum, and in-person.

Once everyone had the coursework completed, there was still one problem: Two crew members hadn’t passed the arduous pack test we held during week one. We promised the Espanola and Mountainair Ranger Districts (on the Santa Fe National Forest) qualified hand crews. Having a handful of crew members on the sidelines during a prescribed burn would have created an entire new set of logistical challenges, and it was of obvious benefit to those crew members to explore additional options. Fortunately, it turns out that the Forest Service accepts moderate pack tests for individuals working on a prescribed fire, so we set a date for both of them to retake the test with less weight. With their entire crew flanking them in support (even though they didn’t need to), both crew members passed. One crew member called her dad (a wildland firefighter) as she was crossing the finish line to give him the news. That scene affirmed the importance of having patience and persistence with youth. If they are willing to put in the work, sometimes they just need more time or a modification.

Find success in the short and long term.
As a youth development program, we learned to accept that “Success” is really a series of incremental successes , and it may not be fully realized in a 12-week program. Skills gained during the program can still contribute to members’ professional development even if they don’t start a career in fire immediately following the program.

If nothing else, we wanted to give FSYC participants an opportunity to dip their toes into what it’s like to be a wildfire practitioner. Due in large part to our Forest Service partners’ patience and commitment, a group of mostly green firefighters achieved restoration objectives and gained skills along the way. FSYC crew members recognized the opportunity that was before them as a “try out” for fire positions in the future and stepped up to the challenges presented to them. Gabe Lyons, assistant crew leader on the Mountainair crew, described what he gained from the program as follows:

“My season with the Forest Stewards Youth Corps has prepared me with the skills and knowledge necessary for a career in wildland fire. Through training and work, I was challenged and enabled to develop personally and professionally. This experience will forever prove to be an invaluable opportunity that I am thankful for.”

In total, the Espanola crew burned 500 acres in the Santa Fe watershed, effectively reducing fuel loading and reducing the risk of catastrophic fire in forests protecting Santa Fe’s best source of drinking water. The Mountainair crew burned 157 acres of ponderosa pine forest adjacent to a community. The success of those burns is measured in more than acres, though. The burns made all of the training and instruction move from theoretical to literal. When we talked with the crews about what it means for a community to work toward fire adaptation, their experiences allowed them to reflect on the importance of multiple partners using fire as a restoration and risk-reduction tool.

It’s more than muscle.

At the beginning of the season, we asked our 16 crew members why they wanted to be on the FYSC Fire and Fuels crew. The overwhelming response: they wanted to be hotshots. To help them attain that goal, the Forest Stewards Guild (Guild) staff designed a holistic program that incorporated more than just hard firefighting skills. This was an ambitious goal, especially because we’d also promised that the crew would be working as a fully-qualified hand crew for two ranger districts on actual implementation.

The sun hadn’t even set on the last day of the 2018 program, before we were planning how to improve for the next season. The challenges we faced were instructive not only in terms for teaching us what not to do in 2019, but they also helped reaffirm the foundational principle of the FSYC program: training, experience and mentorship are each essential components to the bridge that youth travel to reach their career aspirations . The FSYC Fall Fire and Fuels program will be back later this year, on both the Espanola and Mountainair Ranger Districts, so stay tuned for what we learn and achieve next!

Hempstead County Hunting Club

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Guild members work in some of the finest forests in America. This year, Guild members added one more exceptional forest to our portfolio. It is one of the highest quality cypress swamps in Arkansas.

In the 1880’s, the legendary Texarkana region timberman William Buchanan set in motion the formation of a hunting club to protect what was, even then, one of the region’s finest cypress swamps. Since that time, the Hempstead County Hunting Club and its many generations of sportsmen members have been the stewards of Grassy Lake, one of the few remaining large patches of Cypress forest and related habitats in Arkansas.

Beginning in 2017, Guild Senior Forester Fred Clark, Arkansas guild member and forester Jeff Denman, and Arkansas Wildlife Biologist Jody Pagans led a team in developing a Land and Water Stewardship Plan for the property. The overall condition of the lands and waters that make up the Club’s property are a remarkable testament to more than 125 years of conservative management. However, a large property with complex hydrology and such unique ecosystems presents challenges that require expert knowledge in managing water and maintaining ecosystem functions while supporting recreational uses in the extensive bottoms of the region.

The Guild’s plan, led by Jeff Denman, provides a broad set of upland, bottomland, and water management recommendations aimed at ensuring stable conditions for cypress and related habitats. Expertise in water engineering and construction, moist soil management, and forest management for wildlife will be important elements of ongoing work to maintain productive wildlife habitat and support these unique ecosystems.

Photo captions:
1. Jeff Denman cruising the cypress swamp at Grassy Lake. Jeff uses traditional home-built plywood pirogues for navigating in the swamps.
2. IR Orthophoto of Grassy Lake and surrounding habitat.
3. Upland ridges support extensive shortleaf pine and oak forests. The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas assists the Club with prescribed burns in the upland forests.

Written by Fred Clark.

Grassy Lake is the centerpiece of the wildlife-rich, 19,000-acre Little River Bottoms Important Bird Area, one of the largest contiguous tracts of fish and wildlife habitat on the Gulf coastal plain. The area supports the largest breeding population of the American alligator in Arkansas, is nationally recognized for its populations of water birds, and provides habitat for tremendous numbers of waterfowl. The latter characteristic caused private landowners to dedicate almost the entire area to wildlife management long ago, especially for waterfowl hunting.

With the recommendations in this plan, and using the talent and resources already available, the Club is in an excellent position to manage and restore wildlife habitat and ecological functions that will continue to protect the integrity of this unique, world-class natural resource for years to come.

Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition in Santa Fe

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

At the end of January, the Forest Stewards Guild helped host the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC) national meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Guild has long been a member of RVCC because it gives us a stronger voice in national policy and connects us with innovative organizations who share our vision for vibrant human and ecological communities. The Santa Fe meeting brought nearly 100 RVCC participants from across the county for three days. The event started with a field trip to see how the Guild and local partners are making our community more fire adapted by restoring forest structure and fire in the Santa Fe watershed.

The importance of the solution-oriented work RVCC does was underscored by the Southwest Regional Forester, Cal Joyner, speaking to the audience on the first working day after the shutdown. Cal talked about the impact of the shutdown and, more optimistically, the importance of collaboration to getting good work done in the woods. As RVCC highlighted in their newsletter :

“Federal employees are not just service providers for rural communities – they are important community members. Federal jobs are often some of the more stable and well-paying jobs in small towns, and make up a far larger percentage of the rural workforce than in the country overall. For instance, the percentage of the workforce in federal employment in Fergus County, Montana is 12.5%, compared to a national average of less than 2%. In Region 6, over 33% of Forest Service offices are in communities of less than 1,500 people. Federal employees are critical to the social fabric of rural communities, serving as volunteers in community groups and in schools.”

Like the Guild, RVCC focuses on solutions, so the conversation quickly turned to how to elevate examples and ideas for ecologically sustainable rural development. Discussions highlighted opportunities for more collaborative work with federal partners through the Good Neighbor Authority, successful strategies for reducing wildlife risk, recreation as part of rural economic development, Secure Rural Schools funding, supporting sustainable range management, and how to effectively tell the stories to engage the wider public. One of the strengths of RVCC is national policy and experts helped frame discussions in the current political reality and future potential opportunities.

Of course, one of the best parts of the meeting was the connections of old and new friends. New partnerships and projects were hatched in the hallways and participants inspired each other to dive back into the important work we do.

A Guild Inspired Business Offers Opportunities

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Transfer to new leadership is occurring each year, as many business owners near retirement. This includes privately-owned forest-based businesses inspired by the goals and values of the Forest Stewards Guild.

It is critical to protect the spectrum of values that many small businesses offer to forests by providing management and critical operational services, producing useful wood products, and adapting to meet the challenges of today’s economy. It is important that these businesses continue and prosper, which requires especially hard-working and motivated people.

Successful transition can be difficult and depends on finding people with a high level of interest, a wide range of skills, leadership, and drive to succeed. And support from on-the-job training, mentoring, and initial finances.

Such opportunities are available now at Greenleaf Forest and Wood Products in Colorado. Guild members and those who share the vision of the Guild are especially encouraged to explore what is possible by reading more here and getting in touch.

Read on to learn a little background on the business and the current opportunity.

I had to develop a consulting practice and find ways to operate as a business. Research was done, advice found, contacts cultivated, obstacles and skepticism surmounted and allies formed. It took three years to get the first client! Then more came along, generally within a 100 mile radius that included rural mountains to tracts and subdivisions in the Black Forest, near Colorado Springs.

They instilled in me the mission of community and “putting the forest first.” That meant all of it. By the mid – 1990’s I aimed to better practice what I learned at Yale School of Forestry (Master of Forestry – silviculture), Stephen F. Austin (Bachelor of Forestry – forest management), and from nearly 20 years of on-the-ground experience managing private Colorado forests.

Broader community objectives, and innovative wood product utilization and marketing, were added – including nursery and forestry operations, and especially a sawmill. But this was not an ordinary small band-sawmill. It featured huge circular antique saw blades. The mill, a pole peeler, and other equipment were all run by diesel engines, off the grid.

Since 1994 this enterprise has grown into a full-circle integrated private forestry business offering circular-sawn, roundwood, and other wood products. It allows harvesting and utilization of lower-grade timber that other mills will not accept, but that are important for forest improvement – “putting the forest first!”

This is a sustainable enterprise integrating the values and attributes of community, environment and economics. All in dynamic balance – all in operation in 2019.

Four decades of legwork and development have created the physical and economic framework of sustainable service and product work. There are amazing forest results in four Colorado counties. And examples of grant-funded park pavilions in Westcliffe and Black Forest demonstrating use of small diameter wood and larger timbers sawmilled from the 2013 Black Forest Fire.

Hundreds of projects in private homes and businesses, in Colorado and across the Nation, utilize many tree species and products coming from Greenleaf for cabins, barns, furniture, mantels, accent walls, paneling, and decorative wood uses. Locals come almost daily for firewood.

In 2004, I gave an invited Power Point presentation to the US Forest Service Chief’s Office on a vision of Integrated Community-Based Private Forestry, sharing these ideas also with the Congressional Conference Committee staff leader. I advocated that grants should not only go to agencies and non-profits, but also to small businesses that could achieve important, sustainable forestry goals in local communities.

Giving back to the community has included young people from the US and from other countries gaining valuable experience through Greenleaf’s Summer Intern Program. Greenleaf has trained large numbers of forest and mill employees over the years, and educated many landowners and woodcutters.

The business now has an 80-acre campus with five buildings housing the sawmill, a large log and lumber yard, and other operations in Westcliffe, a workforce of 3-5 people, several subcontractors, cooperating loggers, timber contracts and service work on private forests, nurseries, a leased retail outlet in the Colorado Springs area, and a huge potential for continued growth.

The business is open for transition to new leadership and possible gradual ownership. It may take building a leadership team. With mentoring, training, and financial help.

Is it difficult and challenging? Yes.
Does it have hands-on involvement? Yes.
Is it worth it? Yes!

Why do this? First to live and work in beautiful mountains and forests. Next, to be your own boss and work in the private sector, and to practice hands-on real forestry including the personal rewards of serving small and large landowners who prize every square inch of their property. And, perhaps most important, is to serve a mission beyond one’s self — practicing truly integrated community-based forestry. Concept details are explained in the online www.greenleafforestry.com “About Us” pages.

This is a limitless opportunity that will be shaped by the applicant’s abilities and vision. If you are interested, submit your resume and introduction letter to Len Lankford, len.at.greenleaf@gmail.com , and call him at 719-429-4404.

Written by Len Lankford, owner of Greenleaf Forest and Wood Products: In 1975, as a young college-trained forester, I moved to Westcliffe, Colorado with my family. There I founded and molded a private forestry company, based in the small mountain town. It was a true pioneering effort, where no one knew what a private forester was, let alone understood the potential that awaited fulfillment on substantial areas of private forest land.

In 1993, I was invited to be a founding member of the Forest Stewards Guild. The first meeting in Santa Fe was very powerful. The Guild and National Network of Forest Practitioners (NNFP) inspired me over subsequent years of meetings and tours to convert my consulting and private forest management business in Colorado into a unique combination of professional forestry operations and wood manufacturing.

Trees are harvested using selective, environmentally responsible and aesthetic forest treatments that mimic and complement natural processes. Wood processing is inherent for value-added character, not volume. Wood cut and “rescued” after wildfire and beetle infestation is especially valuable. Some private forests thinned 30-40 years ago are ready for another selective harvest, and nurseries planted continuously for 25 years provide young trees for transplant tree sales.

The U. S. Forest Products Lab began to offer such grants, and in 2006 Greenleaf was awarded a Woody Biomass Utilization Grant (WBUG). The equipment purchased with that grant is still in use and very important to our success.

It proudly serves local forest landowners and nationwide wood product customers. It is a for-profit business, thankful for initial grant support, and is now self-sufficient and innovative. It thrives with loyal clients, customers, and workforce.

Clint Trammel and the Missouri Conservation Hall of Fame

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This article is a personal reflection, written by Al Sample, Chair of the Forest Stewards Guild board of directors.

The Missouri Conservation Commission recently voted to induct Clint Trammel, a member of the Forest Stewards Guild founding board, into the Missouri Conservation Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on April 25 at Clint’s beloved Pioneer Forest in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. This is a recognition well earned, and an honor that will be a lasting legacy to Clint’s contributions to the science and practice of sustainable forestry as a practicing forester, as a teacher and mentor, and as a leader in the forestry profession in Missouri and nationally.

I came to know Clint as a fellow founding board member for the Forest Stewards Guild. Then, as now, there was a need for a professional society of practicing foresters committed to gaining a deeper understanding of the ecological processes and functioning of native, natural forests, and managing those forests in ways that are highly economically productive while still sustaining wildlife, watershed protection, biological diversity, and other important values of an ecologically well-functioning forest ecosystem. These were the values that Clint stood for throughout his life as a professional forester. The fact that he helped create a national organization that will continue to teach and inculcate these values will benefit many aspiring young foresters in this and future generations.

Clint was at his best as a teacher and mentor when he was on the land itself, guiding what eventually became hundreds of students, educators, and fellow professionals through Pioneer Forest. He was a practitioner of the Socratic method, challenging students with questions about what they were observing in the forest, what that signified ecologically about the forest’s past and present, and what this suggested to them might be the best way to sustainably manage that forest. To spend a day in the field with Clint at Pioneer Forest was to come away being able to observe more carefully, reason more critically, and act more responsibly in making forest management decisions that would be as sound for the long term as they were in the near term.

Part of Clint’s legacy will be the signature he left on the land at Pioneer Forest after decades as a master conservationist and forester. A century from now, a keen observer with a practiced ecological eye will still see Clint’s fine hand at work in the vitality, diversity, and beauty of the forest he left behind. But because of the many students he mentored along the way, his influence will long be seen as well in the sustainable management of other forests throughout the central hardwood region, and across the country.

Perhaps Clint’s greatest legacy as a conservationist was this gift he has left to those of us who follow. A way of thinking differently about the forests we protect, conserve, and manage. He gave us greater knowledge, but also a greater sense of humility and a measure of respect for the complexity, intricacies, and subtleties of the natural systems we are asked to steward for a time. And this may be his most substantial and lasting contribution of all.

I’m so grateful to the Missouri Conservation Commission for honoring Clint with a place in the Missouri Conservation Hall of Fame. It is a recognition and acknowledgement that he would have received modestly, but treasured greatly.

Thank you to Greg Iffrig and Laurie Drey for the photos in this article.

Gulf Corps Connections

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, organizations from across the Gulf of Mexico were searching for ways to restore the area’s ecology, revive the economy and heal the connection between residents and their natural resources. The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with the Student Conservation Association and The Corps Network, developed the Gulf Corps program to employ young adults in each of the five states surrounding the Gulf of Mexico.

In their first year, crews worked on wetland and stream revegetation, oyster reef restoration, and habitat and water quality assessments, along with many other conservation and land management activities. In the second year, Gulf Corps sought to provide chainsaw and basic firefighting certifications to their members through the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). These certificates furthered crew capabilities by allowing members to use chainsaws and support prescribed fire operations with their partner agencies across the south. They also set corps members up for future employment, as NWCG certifications are recognized as the nationwide standard training for wildland firefighting.

Like Gulf Corps, Dave Lasky (the Guild’s Director of Fire Management), has been working to build an inclusive fire program at the Guild that provides youth with employment and training in fire management and boosts prescribed fire capacity. This overlap in mission and the expertise of Guild staff in training diverse audiences made this a clear opportunity to collaborate and support restoration on a nationwide scale.

In winter 2018 five Guild staff traveled to Mississippi to conduct two-week long chainsaw trainings and a week-long basic fire fighter training. Larger than normal class sizes and uncooperative weather made these classes challenging to implement at the high standards that are necessary for these extremely high-risk jobs. However, enthusiastic support of the local DeSoto National Forest staff and the Boy Scout Camp Tiak, where the training was held, made the it a great success. Gulf Corps crew members got ample “trigger time” on their chainsaws with expert instruction from Guild, TNC, and Forest Service staff, and Guild staff were able to complete a small prescribed burn in a recently cleared longleaf pine stand on Camp Tiak property.

The week of training paid off as corps members completed prep work for the burn and then were able hold the fire line and light the unit.

These classes provided Gulf Corps members with knowledge and confidence to safely wield chainsaws and work on the fire line. This is exactly the work that the Guild actively supports with our own Gravitas Peak Wildland Fire Module and Forest Stewards Youth Corps programs in the southern Rockies, so it was a pleasure for Guild staff to train youth corps crews in the south where there is equally important restoration to be done and need for good fire to get back on the ground.

Written by Sam Berry. Thank you to Sam Berry and Limitless Vistas for the photos in this article.

ProSilva Connectons

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Pro Silva Europe is celebrating its 30-year anniversary this September in Slovenia. It is an organization which promotes close to nature forestry and continuous-cover forest systems. Established in 1989 in Slovenia, today ProSilva has 22 full members and several other countries with associate membership, which is testament to the broad reach and interest of the organization’s principles. The Forest Stewards Guild has joined as an associated member strongly aligned with ProSilva’s vision.

“Pro Silva’s broad approach to sustainability, their concerns and associated management principles, and their approach to implementation make it a logical partner for the Forest Steward Guild. The success of Pro Silva Europe is a great example how foresters can successfully “cross borders” and the Guild hopes to benefit from more interactions in the future.” – Klaus Puettmann, Guild member

Pro Silva general principles:

Pro Silva promotes forest management strategies which optimize the maintenance, conservation and utilization of forest ecosystems in such a way that the ecological and socio-economic functions are sustainable and profitable. The general approach to management which is advocated by Pro Silva, includes market and non-market objectives, and takes the whole forest ecosystem into consideration. With reference to sustainability in its broadest sense Pro Silva members believe that forests provide four categories of benefit to society.

These are:

production of timber and other products
protection of soil and climate
maintenance of ecosystems
recreation, amenity, and cultural aspects

At their 2018 Annual Meeting in Germany, an afternoon was focused on “EU market incentive programs for ecosystem services provided by forests.” The discussions resulted in a summary titled “The Weimar Declaration,” which includes:
Society’s demands on forests are becoming more diverse and intensive. They are for the most part justified and therefore cannot be excluded or ignored. However, in all types of forest ownership across Europe, these demands are increasingly leading to additional organizational costs for forest owners and to a reduction of profitability. Naturally structured, continuous cover forests, as described by the “Pro Silva” principles, offer appropriate conditions to optimize the delivery of sustainable economic, ecological and social services from forests to benefit both today’s society and future generations. They are also a practical instrument for the implementation of the European objectives of rural development, biodiversity, climate change management and the bio‐economy at a relatively low conflict level.

This year Pro Silva welcomes 5 new associated members from the United States (The Forest Stewards Guild, New England Forestry Foundation), from India (ForEcoIndia), from Brazil (ACEF St. Catarina) and Canada (“Les Amis de la Forêt Ouareau”) and marking a hopeful beginning of the formation of a global network. Pro Silva promotes its principles and concepts through a Europe-wide program of silvicultural education involving seminars and excursions. Increasingly the members are also involved as partners in national or international research and networking projects. A European network of best practice demonstration forests is being developed.

Learn more about ProSilva

New England Forest Climate Adaptation Listening Sessions

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Natural resource professionals need scientifically credible, relevant, and timely information on climate change, its effects on ecosystems, and potential management options in order to effectively respond to climate change. In response, the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) and Forest Stewards Guild have teamed up to conduct a needs assessment for New England and New York. These partners are seeking input on key areas of uncertainty where managers have questions so that we can help promote science to address managers’ needs.

The partners held a series of forest adaptation listening sessions; November 16 in Northampton, Massachusetts; December 6 in Orono, Maine; December 14 as part of the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative conference in Burlington, Vermont; and December 19 in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Forest managers and scientists have also been providing input through an online questionnaire . Plans are progressing for more listening sessions in New York State in early 2019.

First, the participants’ passion for the topic of forest climate adaptation is striking. Foresters, forest scientists, wildlife biologists, and conservation professionals turned out in force to share their experiences and questions about adapting forests to the changing climate. Participants freely engaged, exchanging ideas and discussing shared challenges and potential solutions.

Participants in the listening sessions and online questionnaire identified common areas of concern in forest climate adaptation. These include invasive species, tree species vulnerability, watershed or hydrologic impacts, wildlife, and human community impacts including social and economic implications. Participants also expressed concern about plant community dynamics. These focal topics were distilled down from participants’ input, and participants had the opportunity to spend time on the topics of greatest importance to them.

Significantly, participants expressed a need for human behavior to change to help forests adapt to the changing climate. Barriers of short-term thinking, lack of knowledge, shortage of economic incentives, and the scale of institutional infrastructure must be overcome. Human communities, including foresters, loggers, landowners, and legislators, must be inspired and empowered to act.

The meeting facilitators were struck by the fact that in sessions designed around identifying scientific needs, we heard a need to focus on human decision-making in order to move the needle on adapting forests to the changing climate. Forest scientists and managers conveyed that they would welcome better science to inform practice but more urgently feel the need to create and utilize tools that will change the way we as a profession and society approach forest climate adaptation.

What next? NIACS and the Guild are planning listening sessions in New York State, and will collate this information with that from the New England listening sessions. From all the information gathered, we plan to synthesize what we heard into a white paper and share it with all of you. Additionally, we plan to synthesize the ideas on actions we can take to move the needle toward adapting our forests to the changing climate. We also hope to begin connecting the dots toward bringing these ideas to life as projects with, or by, partners.

If you have additional thoughts on information needs for forest climate adaptation, please feel free to email us or add your thoughts to the online questionnaire .

Written by and photos by, Amanda Mahaffey. Thank you.

This article offers an interim update on what NIACS and the Guild have been learning.

The Guild’s All Hands All Lands burn team starts out strong

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

A summary of work (at right) shows the amazing good fire results this year as part of the new coordination of effort, skills, partners and resources.

View this video by the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network! The video shares information and results from recent Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) and also features the Guild’s All Hands All Lands burn team coordination (starting at about 1:35 time in the video).

Bringing good fire back to fire adapted landscapes requires lots of training and partnerships. The materials above display some of the results of such collaborative efforts. Enjoy!

Thank you to all who support this essential and growing area of restoration management and wildfire prevention.

AHALFall2018 2018 is the inaugrial year of the Guild’s innovative All Hands All Lands burn team.

Universal Custom Scraper Feed

Member Highlight – Bren Whittaker

Numinosity.- Book Review

The Guild’s Forest Stewards Apprentices make a difference in the Maine Woods

FSA Reflections: Southwest Virginia – Number 11

How Digital Intelligence is Catching Up to Field Stewardship

ForestHer NC: Making Forestry Stronger, Together - Forest Stewards Guild

Growing the Forest Workforce: Building Local Capacity in Appalachia - Forest Stewards Guild

Practicing & Promoting Stewardship - Forest Stewards Guild

A Champion of Black Ash and the Forest Community: Celebrating the Career and Legacy of Les Benedict - Forest Stewards Guild

Removing Trees in Culturally and Environmentally Sensitive Sites – Effigy Mounds

Ten Years of Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change

Shared Stewardship

The Guild welcomes Jeremy Marshall to Southwest Staff

The Guild welcomes Anna Stearns to Southwest Staff

The Guild welcomes Alex Kaste to Southwest Staff

The Guild’s Leadership

Tending Your Forest Offers Landowners Actionable Guidance and Invaluable Advice

Member Highlight: Gerry Hawkes has earned Vermont Tree Farmer of the Year

Student reflection from the 2025 SAF National Convention

Recap of SAF Audubon Training

Ponderosa Pine Utilization Summit

Meet Alex Etkind, Prescribed Fire Project Manager

Burning at Black Lake 2025

Meet Anna Jaramillo-Scarborough, Watershed Restoration Program Manager

Fall FSYC Training

Birds, Bogs, and Forestry – a two-day Lowland Spruce Workshop in Minnesota

Celebrating Eytan Krasilovsky & Mike Lynch

New Mexico’s Final Collaborative Forest Restoration Project Comes to an End

Putting our Principles into Practice: Reflections from the Northeastern Old Growth Conference

A Day in the Life of a Long-term Forest Monitoring Technician

Beauty in the Bog: A Natural History of Eastern Larch

Guild Member, Carl Struck, Hosts 30th Anniversary Celebration Event in New Mexico

Meet Andreas Wion, Forest and Fire Science Manager

Meet Ami Kane, Chief Development Officer

Setting the Agenda for the Forest Sector

Founding Guild Member Hosts 30th Anniversary Celebration in Maine

Why a wildfire detection camera for Santa Fe?

International Knowledge Exchange: Talking Fire with a Delegation from Brazil

From Leopold to Today: A Legacy of Conservation in the Upper Rio Grande

Red Hills Tour Report

Key themes

Tour Stops

Slow Wood

Empowering the Resilient Community of WNC through Chainsaw Safety and Wildfire Preparedness: Guild Workshops Build Skills, Confidence, and Community Connections in Western NC

Rethinking Red Pine: Forest Diversity and Resilience in the Great Lakes Region

Reflections from the 2025 PNW Guild Gathering in Arcata, CA

Where These Waters Flow

Forestry for Minnesota Birds: Efforts for a Healthy Habitat

Planning & Preparedness in the Headwaters of the Rio Grande

Pathways to Sustain Ash: Insights from the Guild’s Ash Seed Collection Series

Remembering Richard Hart

A Collective Effort – Community Wood Banks in New Mexico

Connections Made for Landscapes and Communities

Reflections from the Guild’s All Hands All Lands Winter Crew 2024-2025

Planting Trees for a Purpose with the University of Alabama’s Forest Stewards Guild Chapter

The Guild welcomes Megan Rangel-Lynch on staff

Removing Barriers to Prescribed Fire on Private Lands in New Mexico

Growing a Network of Bird-Friendly Foresters: Audubon’s Forester Training and Endorsement Program

Advancing Hardwood Viability: The Role of Foresters in Wood Origin Testing

Welcoming Michelle Giles to Forest Steward Guild staff

The Ninth American Forest Congress

Welcome our 30th year Membership and Policy Council!

Good wood for lifetime members

Happy 30th Anniversary from the Guild’s Executive Director

Fire in the Northeast?

End of Year Update from the Guild’s Membership and Policy Council (MPC)

Tree planting for global change adaptation: lessons from “early adopters” in the Northeastern US

Black Lake Prescribed Burn 2024 Summary

2024 Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit recap: Honoring the Past, Envisioning the Future

Supporting the Next Generation of Forest Stewards in the Northeast

Reflections from summer ecological monitoring staff

Greetings from Elijah J. Small at the Guild

Supporting wildland firefighters and a resilience workforce

Celebrating Guild member Bob Perschel

Ecological Incentives for Reestablishing Indigenous Influences in Northeastern Forests

Relational Forestry

Lake States Guild Gathering on Birds and Old Growth

The Forest Stewards Guild Holds the PNW Guild Gathering at Zena Forest Products

Collaboratively Building (local) Capacity to Reduce Wildfire Risk

A Champion of Black Ash and the Forest Community: Celebrating the Career and Legacy of Les Benedict  - Forest Stewards Guild